Friday 8 February 2019

Markets fall amid concerns over slowing economic growth

Markets fell on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 plunged 1.5 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, noted that US-China trade tensions appear to be the “excuse for today’s correction” after a report that National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow had said that a deal was a long way away.

However, Cieszynski suggested that “the bigger factor is that many of the forces which have been driving the market rebound in recent weeks — investors getting back on the bandwagon, the Fed shift from hawkish to neutral, and the adjustment of expectations following the initial wave of earnings reports — have run their course and investors appear to be waiting for the next big mover”.

Matthew Forester, chief investment officer of BNY Mellon’s Lockwood Advisors, said that the “overwhelming risk concern is slowing global economic growth”.

On Thursday, a report showed that German industrial production fell by 0.4 percent in December from the month before while the European Commission released its growth forecast for the euro area this year, lowering it to 1.3 percent from the 1.9 percent forecast in November.

Doug Kass, President of Seabreeze Partners Management, said that bull market complacency is back.

He said that at the core of his market concerns is the diminished outlook for economic and profit growth in 2019-2020 “and there was nothing in the recent high-frequency data or earnings reports that changes this outlook”.

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