Market declines: US LIBOR or US trade war?.
Headlines scream trade war while a surge in US LIBOR is tightening US financial conditions
It is very easy to point the finger at US trade sanctions against China as a reason for the recent declines in equity markets. The prospect of a near-term confrontation, in respect of access to markets and IP protection (a free competition zone perhaps rather than a free trade area), is clearly unhelpful for global equity sentiment. China’s transition from a catch-up nation to an economic competitor always had to be resolved at some stage. However the second dynamic at work during Q1 18 is a rapid rise in US LIBOR, over and above that of official US interest rates. This is tightening monetary conditions rather faster than policymakers may have intended.
Read more...M&A in the UK - is Brexit opening a (relative) value opportunity?.
Whether down to the potential for Brexit or a widening current account deficit the decline in sterling over the last 6m has been substantial. On a quarter-on-quarter basis the trade-weighted value of sterling has fallen by 7%, representing a move of more than 2 standard deviations away from the mean.
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