Financial News

Markets Update: Equities perform strongly

By Business & Finance
06 June 2017
Markets Update: Equities perform strongly

US, UK and German equities all hit record highs, writes Ian Slattery, and all eyes will be on the UK as we await the General Election results on Thursday.

Global equities extended their gains last week, the FTSE 100 and Dax both set milestone benchmark levels but US stocks were the headline news as all three major US indices posted all-time record highs.

ian slattery headshot

Ian Slattery

US President Donald Trump may have made the headlines in Europe by pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement but there was good news in the markets as Europe continued to show economic growth as the eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index firmed to 57.0 from 56.7 in April, the highest in six years.

Oil prices continued to fall despite last week’s announcement by OPEC to cut production.

Oil markets look set to become even more volatile as a group of Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of fuelling terrorism.

global index June 6th

The global index rose 0.4% last week, with the US and Japan leading the way.

Gold made gains once again, and is now over 11% this year. Silver also had a positive week posting a 1.2% return bringing it over 10% for the year to date.

Gold made gains once again, and is now over 11% this year

As mentioned previously oil had another bad week as Brent Crude dipped by 1.1% as it managed to stay afloat at just over $50 a barrel.

The price of the US 10-year bond rose as yields fell to 2.16% from 2.25% a week previous. The equivalent German yield also fell to 0.27% from 0.33% last week.

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THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday June 6th
In Australia, The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to meet today to make a decision on interest rates. It is widely expected that the cash rate will remain at its historic low level of 1.5%.

Thursday June 8th
On Thursday, all eyes will be on the UK as we await the General Election results. Polls have Theresa May ahead with Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn closing ground.

Thursday June 8th
The General Council of the ECB will meet on Thursday to make a decision on monetary policy. Despite mixed signals coming from the ECB lately it is believed Mario Draghi will keep policies the same for the time being.

The team at Zurich Investments is a long established and highly experienced team of investment managers who manage approximately €21.6bn in investment of which pension assets amount to €9.6bn. To find out more about Zurich Life’s funds and investments, w: zurichlife.ie/funds, Twitter: @ZurichLife, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/zurich-life-assurance-plc

Warning: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. Benefits may be affected by changes in currency exchange rates. The value of your investment may go down as well as up. If you invest in these funds you may lose some or all of the money you invest.