Stock Take The 2024 news cycle has typically been dominated by the likes of the US and UK elections, or conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East. However, the year looks to be ending with a focus on developments in France and South Korea. Starting in France, Prime Minister Michel Barnier resigned on Wednesday last…

Stock Take Last week saw Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and indulge in Black Friday, with the latter offering a potential litmus test on US retail confidence. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, Black Friday retail sales were 3.4% higher than last year overall1. Online retail sales made up the bulk of the increase, as Mastercard reported in-store sales…

Stock Take Markets began the week analysing comments from Bank of Japan (BoJ) governor, Kazuo Ueda, who said Japan’s economy was progressing towards its inflation target on the back of rising wages and robust profits. Ueda acknowledged the external risks, such as president-elect Trump’s economic policy, but said the BoJ would not wait for all…

Stock Take After the previous week’s blizzard of political and economic news, markets had less to digest last week, with the focus largely on the latest US consumer inflation figures and what they might mean for interest rates. Wall Street extended its post-election rally and set new highs at the beginning of the week, although…

Stock Take  A US Federal Reserve rate-setting meeting would normally be top of the agenda for markets, but last week there was only one show in town. After a divisive campaign full of twists and turns, Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory capped one of the most remarkable political comebacks. The oldest ever elected, Trump…

Stock Take Last week, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves took the opportunity to take centre stage and deliver her inaugural Budget, before focus turns to the US election this Tuesday. Ultimately, she delivered a range of tax rises in concert with an expansion in government spending. The Budget had little impact on UK equity markets, with…

Stock Take US equities slipped last week as mixed corporate results and anticipation of the upcoming election tempered market sentiment. The S&P 500 had seen several weeks of growth, so a slight reversal was to be expected. This one was relatively mild, with the index dropping by just under 1%. Contributing to this were a…

Stock Take With the US election just two weeks away, and the UK budget due next week, investors are facing greater uncertainty at the moment. However, this didn’t stop equity markets in either country from rising last week. Starting with the UK, the FTSE 100 rose 1.27% on news that inflation continued to fall in…

Stock Take Both the S&P500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs, and posted 1.1% and 1.2% increases over the five days. This came despite US inflation coming in above expectations at 2.4%, narrowly beating the forecasts of 2.3% for September. That said, it still represented a slight drop on the 2.5% figure…

Stock Take Chinese and US markets overcame Middle Eastern geopolitical fears to post another positive week last week, although European and Japanese shares did not perform so well. The fears around Israel and Iran led to a rise in oil prices. Brent crude oil prices jumped 9.2% to $78.23 a barrel, the strongest weekly advance…