Igor Kuchma

Starting from inflation, the IPP in Germany rose to 33.5% (y/y) in April. The situation is, to put it bluntly, unpleasant. The problem is that there is nothing the country’s central bank can do about it, except continue to push for an early rate hike. It is likely that the event will take place in […]

Are you ready for another recession? Economists continue to warn of yet another apocalypse, slashing forecasts for global growth. Among the main reasons, are the situation around Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Overall, analysts expect global GDP growth of 2.2% in 2022. For the United States it is 1.8% and for the eurozone […]

The vicious circle: Apple is once again under review. The European Commission suspects the company of abusing its position in the mobile wallet market. According to the regulator, Apple restricted access to NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology used in smartphones for contactless payments. Thus, the American company abused its dominant position in the market of mobile […]

Starting from Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2022. On the one hand, Meta (FB) managed to meet market expectations for revenue. On the other hand, earnings per share were below consensus forecasts. As for the impact of Apple’s implementation of App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which requires apps to […]

Surprise-surprise, China is back in the spotlight. The way the country handles the spike in coronavirus cases scares investors. In this context, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Hang Seng China Enterprises index continues the downtrend. Domestic equities have lost nearly $2.7 trillion in market value this year, prompting authorities to redouble their efforts […]

Get ready – the quantitative tightening is on the way! Although the European Central Bank kept its monetary policy unchanged last week, it did confirm its intention to end bond purchases in the third quarter. The ECB said it plans to reduce its bond purchases under its Asset Purchase Program to €30 billion in May […]

According to the minutes of the meeting, the Fed plans to reduce the monetary balance by $95 billion each month ( $60 billion in Treasury bills and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities). Thus, if the balance sheet reduction begins as early as May and the amounts indicated do not change (which may happen depending on […]

On Friday, April 1, the Chinese government began tightening restrictions for the western hemisphere of the city. It is an extension of the measures that were in force in the eastern part, which were for four days, but were also extended. Among the main consequences of the closure of Shanghai is the generation of new […]

Despite geopolitical tensions, risk-on is back on the market: equities rally, while defensive assets such as Treasuries and the Japanese yen suffer significant declines. At the same time, financial markets have continued to position themselves in favor of tighter monetary policy and, as a result, bond yields have soared, especially in the US. The dynamics […]

As expected, the US Federal Reserve announced an interest rate hike of 0.25 percentage points. The dot plot with forecasts of interest rate developments suggests a seven-fold increase this year, to 1.75-2% (in December the committee expected three 0.25 percentage point hikes). By the end of 2023, the interest rate could rise to 3%. At […]