June 22: In the Markets
Backdrop It’s been a brutal start to the year for anyone picking stocks. Fears about rising interest rates have reversed the speculative stock hype in the US, and put a dent in the broader bubble in dicey assets. Worries about recession have led to terrible equity performance across the board. In the short term, liquidity and sentiment drive asset prices – and sentiment is terrible. April saw the largest outflow from UK equity funds on record. There is some logic to this fretful atmosphere. High inflation leads to an increase in future interest rate expectations, and rising rates are bad …