Precise Investors Editorial Team
The MSCI All-World index has risen nearly 14% to record highs in the last three months, marking its best second-quarter performance since 2020
World stocks were headed for their best second-quarter performance in six years on Tuesday, while dollar pushed the yen to a four-decade low and was headed for a fourth consecutive quarterly gain.
Within the past three months, the Strait of Hormuz has re-opened gradually and haphazardly as hostilities between Iran and U.S. receded into a fragile ceasefire, knocking 20% from the price of oil. In addition, a dramatic shift in expectations for U.S. interest rates has occurred, against a backdrop of a boom in artificial intelligence stocks.
The MSCI All-World index has risen nearly 14% to record highs in the last three months, marking its best second-quarter performance since 2020.
Most of the gains have been powered by a scorching rally in anything AI-related, particularly in Asian markets, where indexes in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have logged double-digit percentage gains. The S&P 500 is also up 14% and the Nasdaq.
The one theme that’s disappeared largely is monetary policy support, said Guy Miller, chief market strategist at Zurich Insurance Group. At the beginning of the year, the futures market was pricing further rate cuts. Now, that’s changed. And that’s been a function largely of the situation with Iran and the higher commodity prices.
The take-away for us, however, is that while we’re not expecting further cuts from the central banks, we’re not expecting a start of a hiking cycle as such, he said.
Europe’s STOXX 600, which does not have nearly as many AI beneficiaries as many Asian or U.S. indexes, was up 0.65%, heading for a quarterly gain of 10% – having risen every month since March.
U.S. stock futures were up 0.2%, suggesting a modest rise at the opening bell later.
Comments (0)
Average Rating: No ratings yet/5 (0 reviews)
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!