Markets Update: Reaching a high note

US markets stayed close to all-time highs as they continued to digest the potential policies that the new Trump administration may employ, writes Ian Slattery.

Despite a global financial and political environment undergoing a time of transition, equities continue to move higher. In the US, markets stayed close to all-time highs as they continued to digest the potential policies that the new Trump administration may employ.

The other big theme of the week was the strength of the US dollar, which climbed to a 13-year high on continued expectations of increased US government spending and an interest rate hike next month.

The Japanese equity market rose strongly during the week as the weaker yen was seen as a positive for export sensitive stocks. The Nikkei 225 is now 20% above its recent low, which some analysts would consider the start of a technical ‘bull market’. US Treasuries continued their sell off this week, with the difference (or spread) between US and German 10-year benchmark yields hitting its widest in 27 years, further highlighting the divergent monetary policy between the world’s two biggest trading blocs.

The global index rose 2.7% last week, as the strong returns seen since the US election continued. Gold slipped further last week and returned -1.6% as it was hit by dollar strength and rate expectations.

Copper fell back 1.7% last week, but this must be viewed in the context of the near 11% rise the week before. Oil was up over 5% and closed at just short of $46/barrel.

In the US, markets stayed close to all-time highs as they continued to digest the potential policies that the new Trump administration

The 10-year US treasury yield closed at 2.35%, up another 20 basis points over the course of the week, whilst the 10-year German equivalent fell back last week to 0.27% from 0.31%, contributing to the record spread between the two.

The euro weakened against the dollar with the EUR/USD rate moving from 1.09 to 1.06, as the dollar extended it record winning streak versus the eurozone currency.