Summary for the 27th of March 2019


US investors are expecting two interest rate cuts during the upcoming two years. This means the market are expecting a sharp decline in the economic growth.

Economic indicators do not seem to indicate that the US economy is closing to a sharp decline in growth. Atlanta Fed’s model has estimated the GDP growth to be 1.3% for the first quarter, a decline from 2.8% in the forth quarter. Some of the factors that contributed to the lower estimate is the government shutdown in January.

US Housing Starts for February fell by 8.7% from January. Bigger decline than expected, but this was after a big increased from December to January. Looking at the past two months, the Housing Starts had increased. Building Permits fell in the last two months, indicating a weak outlook for housing constructions. Consumer Confidence numbers released by the Conference Board declined a little in March from a strong increase in February. Assessment of current conditions declined in March. Optimism about the short term future had moderated. Still the consumers remain confident that the economy will continue to expand.

The British Parliament are holding indicative votes today to find an alternative arrangement for Brexit. The MPs will be voting for all realistic Brexit options

Indices for 27th of March:
Dow: +0.6% (26th of March)
S&P 500: +0.7% (26th of March)
Nasdaq: +0.7% (26th of March)
Nikkei: -0.4% (27th of March)
Chinese indices: +0.6% (27th of March)
STOXX Europe 600 Index: +0.02% (27th of March)

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