Market commentary: Positive momentum keeps building in equity markets

Markets are trading higher this morning, after last Friday’s rate cut by the People’s Bank of China for the first time since 2012. The move came as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi bolstered his stimulus pledge and three weeks after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly increased its monetary-base target.

China’s one-year lending rate was reduced by 0.4% to 5.6%, while the one-year deposit rate was cut by 0.25% to 2.75%. The move comes after data showing real-estate prices falling across the country as bad loans proliferate at the fastest pace since 2005.

The European Union is planning a 21 billion-euro fund to share the risks of new projects with private investors. The new entity is designed to have an impact of about 15 times its size, making it the anchor of the EU’s 300 billion-euro investment program. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is due to announce the three-year initiative this week.

Mario Draghi is about to find out just how urgent his call for action has become. One week after the European Central Bank president vowed to revive inflation “as fast as possible,” policy makers will receive a glimpse on just how feeble cost pressures are now in the euro region. Economists forecast data on 28 November will show consumer-price growth matching the weakest since 2009.

That would add to the drumroll for a stimulus debate at the 4 December meeting as panels of officials study possible new measures and prepare to cut their economic outlook. While Draghi has stoked pressure toward sovereign-bond buying, colleagues from Germany to the Netherlands are unconvinced quantitative easing is warranted, and his vice president suggested at the weekend that the ECB might hold off until next year.    

Regarding oil, Iran may propose that OPEC cut its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to halt the slide in crude prices when the country’s oil minister consults with his Saudi counterpart before the group gathers this week. OPEC, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will meet Nov. 27 in the Austrian capital to assess its collective output amid a supply glut and a 27% drop in prices this year.

So far no conclusion has been reached between the US and Iran on Iran’s nuclear program. That development recognizes that they may have run out of time to complete a comprehensive deal by tonight’s deadline given what both sides describe as significant gaps.

An extension would present both practical and political problems, though both sides said it’s preferable to a breakdown in the diplomacy, which could then lead to military conflict over Iran’s nuclear activities.

In corporate news, Lufthansa’s CEO announced that the airline has won a bigger slice of its domestic market in recent months and that he believes management can come to a common understanding in the talks with the union that have been resumed since October," he said.

Overall positive momentum keeps on building in the equities markets are we head towards the next ECB meeting at the beginning of December.

This article was issued by Calamatta Cuschieri, visit www.cc.com.mt for more information.

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