05/04/2023 –

As central banks have misjudged inflation dynamics, they’ve been forced into delayed action that has been all the more forceful, with rapid and large interest rate hikes. Of course, this has led to the destabilization of interest rate-sensitive sectors, such as finance and real estate. The unusually long period of extremely low interest rates favored speculative investments, which now need to be cleared up. While March was characterized by high volatility in both interest rates and equities, April was much calmer. In April the earnings season was in the limelight of investors. The key question was, how would corporates be able to cope with higher inflation and interest environment? AND: 80% of reported earning surprised to the upside. But only 10% of all stocks made 90% of the index performance for the year so far. Therefore, selection is key other than in a zero interest rate environment. For May and June we expect higher volatility as markets have performed already well and Central Banks policy will influence markets.

Click here to watch our CEO, Steffen Bauke’s market update for April 2023 on YouTube.