Why that’s absurd, the wing is on the bird..”
In the headlines this morning…
Spring has sprung, and it was a fantastic weekend – attached photo of she-who-is-now-Mrs-Blain driving the boat at full pelt across the Solent. What’s not to like about the world! What is this strange feeling? I do believe I am feeling mildly “bullish”. Think I better bang my head against a wall until my normal cynical bear mode is restored
It’s coming up for the end of the first quarter and its… not bad! Despite all the doom and gloom, the geopolitical uncertainty, the howls of imminent financial reset, the political anguish…. markets have been posting positive market numbers! Most assets classes are showing positive returns. I’ve been trying to check claims it’s been the most positive start to a new year since 1987.. (er.. those of old enough to remember will recall that ended up a very bad year, but hey, we’re still breathing!)
It’s all good news! The US stock market posting a very positive rally since the near rout in December. Rest of the world is following it up. Bonds look in fine shape – treasuries prices are up, credit looks resilient, while EM and Hi-Yield have produced positive returns rather than the spanking many investors expected. The central banks have been playing nicely: The Fed has declared itself a dove, the ECB shows no sign of scaring markets – only the Bank of England threatens to do something stupid when it warns it might have to hike sterling rates to defend the currency if the UK crashes out on Brexit.
Calm before the storm?
