Will they or won’t they……cut? Over the last quarter global markets have shown a high level of uncertainty around what the US Federal Reserve will do with interest rates. The markets had priced in a 90% chance that the Fed would reduce the cash rate by 0.50%, and a 51% chance of 0.75% rate cut by the end of 2019. This is a significant change from September last year when the markets were pricing in a high chance of two rate increases. US jobs data came out stronger than expected
Trade War Escalates In May we saw the markets start to price in an increasing level of uncertainty around a trade agreement between the United States and China. In April it looked as if a trade deal was only weeks away from being reached, but President Trump then fired a warning shot across the Chinese negotiators bow in his usual fashion -via a Tweet. May 5th – President Trump states the tariff of 10% will be increased to 25% on 10th May. May 15th – President Trump signs an executive
