Risk aversion returned to the markets last week following a brief spell of a recovery. Britain remained at the core of the market focus as deteriorating economic sentiment saw many investors rushing to pull out their investments from the hedge funds which had a high exposure to the sector. This snowballed into the global market sentiment falling as a result. Three open ended property funds had to suspend trading and also prevent investors from divesting. Needless to say, the sterling got hit with the declines accelerating after the Bank of England announced cuts to its capital buffer requirements. Gold prices emerged on the top this week, with prices in spot gold seen testing 2-year highs above $1375 during the week. Economic data from the UK was mixed with services and construction PMI falling to 7-year lows in June. Although the surveys by Markit were conducted well ahead of the June 24th referendum verdict it was clear that UK businesses are expecting to see further slowdown impacting the overall economy. Industrial and manufacturing production was however the silver lining, falling 0.50% each, less than forecast in May. April’s upward revision managed to put the year over year increase on a firm footing. In the US, economic data this week saw the ISM non-manufacturing PMI rise to a 7-month high. The data released by the Institute of Supply Management saw a broad based strength continue in the services based sector with the employment sub-index also see rising strongly and moving above the 50-level indicating an expansion. The ADP private payrolls report for June showed that the US economy added 172k jobs which were more than what was forecast. Small and medium sized businesses were at the forefront, but on a sector basis, manufacturing and construction saw job losses. Friday’s jobs report showed a solid job growth in the US. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the US economy added 287k jobs in June, more than the forecast 180k. The unemployment rate rose to 4.90% on increased participation rate.
Gold maintains gains at 2-year highs
Weekly Report - 11/07/2016