Weekly Market Update – March 3, 2019

Last WeeK

  • European Central Bank Downgrades Growth Forecast in Dovish Tilt – Global equities declined 2.1% last week after less support from recent market-friendly trends including central banks hitting the pause button on further rate hikes, temporary U.S.-China trade relief and solid earnings growth. Of the major equity regions, the U.S. (-2.8%) declined the most, while non-U.S. developed markets and emerging markets also fell 1.4% and 2.1%, respectively.
  • Jobs Repot Fell Short of Concensus in Weak Jobs Report – In the February labor market report, the U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs, which was lower than both consensus (180,000) and the prior month (311,000).
  • Soft China Trade Data Likely Caused by Timing of Holiday – Significantly below consensus, China import and export data was likely affected by the Lunar New Year holiday. China equities declined almost 5% last Friday but remain up about 20% in local currency terms year-to-date.

This Week

  • U.K to Hold Brexit Votes with Deadline Less Than Three Weeks Away – U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a sequence of votes from March 12 through March 14. The first vote held on Tuesday will have parliament members decide on the renegotiated Brexit agreement.
  • U. S Inflation Expected to Stay Capped – This Tuesday’s U.S. inflation data will likely receive some extra attention given the upward move in wage growth in last Friday’s jobs report. Low energy prices should continue to keep a lid on the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) level which has an expected reading of 1.6% year-over-year.
  • Bank of Japan in May Consider More Stimulus – The Bank of Japan meets this week where it must assess the economic outlook as well as potential impacts from Japan’s planned sales tax increase in the second half of 2019.

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