There is a “groundhog day” feeling to financial markets as the same issue continues to concern investors - resulting in similar moves in certain markets. Of course, the latest inflation data on Wednesday saw the figure hit another 40-year+ high in the US. US dollar continues to benefit from this cloud hanging over the world economy, which hit multi-year, and multi-decade highs.
In foreign exchange, the euro falling to parity with the US dollar was grabbing headlines - one euro is now only worth one dollar. That is a fall for the euro of 15% over the past 12 months. And there is a double-whammy here for the Eurozone economy as a weaker euro makes imports more expensive - and this all helps fan the flames of inflation.
Round numbers such as the parity situation we have with EUR/USD can make traders think that perhaps this is where major trends will turn. That certainly can’t be ruled out - but let’s not forget that in the first couple of years of this century, the euro was still lower, hitting 0.83 in October 2000. For now, at least the US dollar remains a favorite amongst investors providing at least some safe-haven insulation from the woes affecting most major economies worldwide.
Stock markets were also heavily hit by the latest inflation data. The S&P 500 had been enjoying a gentle recovery over the past three weeks but got knocked back to the lows for the month so far as the news broke. It still looks too early to call the absolute bottom for stocks after a challenging year for investors - the S&P is down 12%, and the NASDAQ is off by more than 20%.
At the moment, it does not look like all of the bad news about inflation is being discounted into the price, judging by the nerves seen on the latest announcement - investors are probably braced for more volatility in stocks throughout the summer.
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