St. James's Place News
IMF urges further growth stimulus
Global markets burst into life on Friday as stronger than forecast jobs data in the US provided a welcome fillip after the leading bourses had struggled for traction during the earlier part of the week. The FTSE 100 Index finished the week up almost 3 percent, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 2.35 percent and, in the US, the S&P 500 index also ended in positive territory.
Anticipation over whether the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) would announce new easing measures played on the minds of investors but – as we’ve come to expect – that optimism, in the meantime at least, remains misplaced. Whilst many commentators expect the Fed to introduce a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, in September, the market reaction to the latest ECB meeting was initially negative, with share prices tumbling and the continued sell-off of Spanish and Italian bonds intensifying.
Also in this week's bulletin...
- According to figures released on Friday, the US added 163,000 jobs in July – compared to the expected level of 100,000 and June’s negatively revised figure of 64,000 - a sign that the recent slowdown in the world’s largest economy might have stabilised.
- As markets continue their roller coaster ride, both upwards and down, the absence of a silver bullet to repair and resolve all of the underlying problems means that stock markets have been caught in an infuriating cycle over the past few months.
- Despite being launched to a fanfare of publicity last year, just 72,000 Junior ISAs have been opened. Commentators suggest the current economic climate and investors’ aversion to ‘riskier’ stock market assets as the reasons for the low take up so far.
View this week's Market Bulletin (PDF), which contains thoughts and opinions of St. James’s Place and our range of investment managers on the key issues affecting investors.
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