Jack Bouroudjian discusses the reconstitution of the Russell 2000 index, and how that might affect other equity indexes in the weeks ahead. He also touches on what the appetite for risk might be heading into the third quarter. The post Market Update: Russell Reconstitution appeared first on OpenMarkets. Source: CME Open Markets – Market Update: Russell Reconstitution

There has always been a contrasting yet complimentary relationship between U.S. equities and the Bond market, and I believe there always will be.  In addition, one typically leads the other and that leadership continues to be debatable from market cycle to market cycle. Therefore, decades of market cycles have taught us that typically when stock prices go up, bond prices go down. In other words, bonds and stocks have an inverse relationship.  If someone were fully invested, they would most likely have to sell one in order to buy the other. This periodically can create volatility. The relationship between stocks…

Market relationships seem to have normalized: equities to fixed income, volatility to equities and fixed income, forex to the rest of the capital market.  Jack Bouroudjian highlights those relationships and the impact they may have as we head into February. The post Market Update: Relationship Normalization appeared first on OpenMarkets. Source: CME Open Markets – Market Update: Relationship Normalization

With the commencement of a new round of OPEC + Russia crude oil production cuts on January 1, many people are worried about a sudden and crippling rise in the price of gasoline at the pump. The relationship between oil prices and gasoline prices is notoriously hard to track. WTI crude oil prices fell from the high of $76.90 reached on October 3, 2018 to the recent low of $42.36 on December 24, a 45 percent drop. Gasoline prices, however, fell only 17.3 percent in that same time period. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), regular retail gasoline price…

For most global investors, U.S. dollar hedging was the only currency risk management strategy to follow in 2018. The dollar rose against all of its major developed market crosses – by 3.4 percent vs. the euro; 4.5 percent vs. Canadian dollar; 5.1 percent vs. pound sterling; 5.8 percent vs. Australian dollar; and a more modest 0.3 percent vs. the yen. Dollar strength against the supposed darlings of the emerging markets – the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) – was even more marked. The Brazilian real declined 15.1 percent against the USD, the Russian rouble 11.8 percent, Indian rupee 10.4…

Earnings projections following the last earnings period were subdued, with input costs expected to rise for many companies. That hasn’t necessarily proven correct this earnings period. Jack Bouroudjian discusses the market result. The post Market Update: A Look at Earnings appeared first on OpenMarkets. Source: CME Open Markets – Market Update: A Look at Earnings

Domestic politics, geopolitics and earnings have delivered some bad news lately, leading to a slide in equity markets. Jack Bouroudjian looks at all three, and how they’re having an impact. The post Market Update: Taking a Breather appeared first on OpenMarkets. Source: CME Open Markets – Market Update: Taking a Breather