Global Markets

A severe downturn hit U.S. tech megacaps on Monday, with Nvidia, Apple, and Amazon leading a $1 trillion loss in market capitalisation. Japan's Nikkei 225 suffered its worst drop since 1987, while Bitcoin declined by 11%. The yen's unexpected strength and recession fears contributed to market instability. However, Japanese markets rebounded strongly on Tuesday, recovering over 9%, supported by a recent Bank of Japan rate hike. Other Asia-Pacific markets also…

This year the stock market has generally enjoyed a period of stability often described as a "Goldilocks" economy, which has avoided the extremes of overheating or stagnation. However, recent economic data has sparked concerns of a downturn. The July jobs report revealed a modest addition of 114,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate rising to 4.3%, the highest in nearly three years. This, combined with earlier signs of slowing consumer spending…

The central bank of Japan took more decisive action towards tighter monetary setting, as it announced the second rate hike of this cycle and a plan to reduce asset purchases

China's economy grew at a slower-than-expected annual rate of 4.7% in the last quarter, falling short of the 5.3% growth seen in the first quarter. The National Bureau of Statistics noted that progress this year has been challenging due to weak global economic momentum, persistent inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and insufficient domestic demand. Despite these challenges, the economy achieved a 5% growth rate in the first half of the year, matching…

The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in lower than expected, which is likely to bolster the Federal Reserve's confidence that inflation is on a sustainable path to the 2% target. This has increased the likelihood of a rate cut in September to 81.3%. June's CPI report was notably soft, with headline inflation falling 0.1% month-on-month, contrary to the predicted rise of 0.1%. Core CPI increased by only 0.1% MoM,…