ECONOMETER

Risk assets have registered a good start to the year despite ongoing tensions in the Eurozone. US stocks rose overnight, with the S&P 500 extending its rally to 4% year to date. Evidence that markets are becoming increasingly resilient to bad news emerged from the muted reaction to sharp downgrades in growth forecasts by the World Bank, with the world economy expected to grow by 2.5% this year compared to a June forecast of 3.6%.

US markets also reacted positively to news that the US NAHB Homebuilders index rose to its highest level in more than 4 years and while industrial output expanded, albeit less than expected. Markets will continue to keep one eye on earnings to ascertain whether the equity rally can be sustained, with at least 48 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings this week including Morgan Stanley Bank of America, Intel and Google today. So far, relatively more companies have fallen short of expectations than have beaten expectations.

Even in the Eurozone the news has been slightly more encouraging than of late, with reports that a deal between Greece and private creditors on the extent of debt writedowns could be reached by the end of this week. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reported to be raising $500 billion in new funds for bail out funds, another factor that has helped to shore up market sentiment. The net result has been to see peripheral bond yields ease further and the EUR to strengthen, helped by the fact that the market is extremely short.

There is still plenty of event risk on the horizon, however, including debt auctions in Spain and France today although these ought to pass relatively smoothly. US data are likely to be mixed today, with benign inflation keeping the door open to more Fed quantitative easing (QE) while a gain in the Philly Fed manufacturing survey will continue to reveal signs of economic recovery. In the short term risk assets look supported but given the risks ahead any bounce still looks to be short-lived.