Category: Daily Instagraph

Market commentators have been briefly declaring the entering of a new bull market yesterday with the S&P 500 now up 20% from its lows in October 2022. To us this is a good time for an update on where the returns were made so far in 2023 in global financial markets (in USD) and provide … Continued

The French consumer has a simple answer to the roaring inflation of food prices: consume less. French households have indeed been cutting back significantly on their consumption of food products over the last months. This forced diet comes at a significant social cost and may lead to accrued political tension on the current government in … Continued

Value remains unloved: all the outflows out of so-called smart-beta ETFs in the US in May were explained again by the Value ETFs. The argumentation brought forward is that the value style will underperform despite the higher interest rates as the US economy is slowing. Also the exposure of these indices to financials and energy … Continued

You thought European equities overall were cheap. Well, UK equities are even cheaper as they trade at their biggest discount towards European equities in two decades in terms of PER ratio. Compared to the US, the UK discount is currently more than 40% with almost all sectors ( except tech hardware and telco ) trading … Continued

The Norwegian government reached a deal yesterday with minority parties to secure a parliamentary majority for lowering to 25% (from the 35% initially planned ) a proposed tax on salmon farmers. This removes an uncertainty that has been hanging over salmon producers over the last months. Their stocks surged with our holding Leroy Seafood increasing … Continued

Worried by the discussion about the debt ceiling … own gold. The argument brought forward by several strategist on Wall Street goes as follows: the political drama about the debt ceiling will ultimately result again into more debt as this debt is required to finance an US budget that was voted. Higher debt levels inevitably … Continued

The Euro has gained some 13% versus the USD since its September low. According to Goldman Sachs, a 10% rise in the euro shaves 2% to 3% off earnings-per-share growth for European companies. The more global sectors like telco, healthcare and media are particularly exposed as they generate roughly 40% of their sales in North … Continued

As we are at the end of the Q1 result season, it becomes visible what companies in the S&P 500 are currently growing their earnings. The clear sector winners are probably the least appreciated: companies in the energy sector. Energy companies have indeed been growing their earnings by 155% over the last 12 months while … Continued

According to the April Fund Manager Survey from BofA, the “long big tech” trade is by far the most crowded trade amongst institutional fund managers. This happens in a context where the stock market is currently driven by only a few winners ( FAANGS) and where higher interest rates should challenge the high valuations of … Continued

It is not surprising that there is a strong correlation between the availability of credit to the corporate world and the ability of companies to grow their earnings. In the US, the regional banking crisis and the higher rates have let lending officers to tighten their standards before accepting to give out new loans. This … Continued