Bloomberg (January 4)
“For the first year since 1989, foreigners sold Japanese stocks and missed a rally.” The TOPIX index gained 8.9% in dollars and 21% in euros, but overseas investors missed out on some gains by offloading more than 250 billion yen in Japanese shares last year. “The Topix capped a 9.9 percent gain in local-currency terms last year, its fourth straight annual increase. Combined with the yen’s resilience, that meant that the Topix outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in dollars for the first time since 2008” and its “gain in euros was triple that of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.”
Tags: 1989, Dollars, Euros, Foreigners, Gains, Increase, Japan, Offloading, Rally, S&P 500, Stocks, Stoxx Europe 600, Topix, Yen
Wall Street Journal (December 16)
“Financial markets took the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate ‘liftoff’ from near-zero in stride on Wednesday, broadly celebrating the 25 basis point increase in the federal-funds rate.” Given the late timing of the rise, however, this is very much unchartered territory. “The truth is that few people in financial markets are confident that anyone knows how this gradual return to monetary normalcy will turn out.”
Tags: Basis points, Fed, Federal-funds rate, Financial markets, Increase, Interest rates, Monetary, Near-zero, Normalcy
Institutional Investor (January 29)
“There will be no interest rate increase from the FOMC before December 2015.” Even though the Federal Reserve has indicated a mid-year increase, Institutional Investor believes this will be delayed. Members of the Federal Open Markets Committee “are acutely aware of the asymmetry of risk around the timing of rate hikes. That is, the cost of raising rates too soon—and stifling a domestic-focused, consumer-driven economic recovery—is viewed as considerably higher than the cost of raising rates too late.”
Tags: Asymmetry, Economic recovery, Federal Reserve, FOMC, Increase, Interest rates, Risk, Timing
