Markets Explained

In this episode, Hugh and Karen dive into the upcoming earnings season and highlight the questions on their minds in the tech space and beyond.

The US labour market could have added fuel to the bond market fire last week, but in fact it still looks broadly stuck in a ‘no hire, no fire’ pattern. With more and more oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz, one might also have expected the bond market to calm down. Hugh and Karen share their initial thoughts on what’s still worrying the bond market.

On this week’s podcast, Hugh and Karen discuss the latest developments in the oil markets, including talk of diesel export curbs. They also highlight why the rise in bond yields has more to do with the resilience of economic growth than with inflation, and why equities are, so far, unfazed.

In this podcast, Hugh and Karen pick up on the latest political headlines from both Germany and the Middle East. They remind us why the economic implications are often far more sanguine than the political headlines would suggest, and why the bond market will act as the disciplining force, serving as judge, jury and sometimes executioner for bad politics and bad policies. The equity market, meanwhile, continues to ride the wave of economic resilience.

Lots to discuss again this week, with conflict raging on in the Middle East, central banks under pressure to raise rates and bond markets still unsettled.