Weekly Market Summary

💡1. Global stock and government bond prices rose on Wednesday, with the sovereign debt market rebounding from a sell-off earlier in the week that had been driven by concerns about tighter monetary policy. However, the sell-off paused on Wednesday, with yields falling across developed markets. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dropped 0.02 percentage points to 1.95 per cent, while Germany’s 10-year Bund fell 0.05 percentage points to 0.21 per cent. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.5 per cent, with stocks across every sector rising. The technology dominated Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.1 per cent.

💡2. Hong Kong stocks retreated from near a three-week high as a flare-up in Covid-19 infections triggered tighter curbs and prompted brokers and banks to shut branches. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.4 per cent to 24,7136.02 as of 1.40pm local time, erasing an earlier advance of as much as 0.9 per cent. HSBC dropped 1.3 per cent while China Construction Bank slipped by 1.1 per cent as banks and brokers rejigged their operations amid tighter pandemic curbs. Markets in Asia-Pacific advanced tracking an overnight rally in US equities. The Nikkei 225 and the S&P ASX 300 climbed 0.3 per cent while the stock benchmark in South Korea rose 0.2 per cent.

💡3. Shares in Chinese healthcare companies sold off after the US commerce department added pharmaceutical group WuXi Biologics to its “unverified” list for exporters, lopping off more than a fifth of the company’s market value. The addition of WuXi and 32 other Chinese entities to a list that curbs their ability to access US technology sent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Healthcare index down almost 5 per cent on Tuesday, putting it on track for its biggest drop since early December. The addition of 33 Chinese groups to the unverified list came as the US steps up scrutiny of Chinese companies.

💡4. China’s policy-easing measures will need to go the distance to revive credit for businesses. While two key rounds of liquidity injection and lower borrowing costs since December have reinforced expectations for more, the market remains tentative. The CSI 300 Index has lost 7.6 per cent so far this year as it slipped into bear territory for the first time since the US-China trade war broke out. The MSCI China lost 1.1 per cent and global stocks declined 5 per cent. Wang’s US$3.3 billion equity portfolio has about 13 per cent of its assets invested in Chinese companies, the third-largest country allocation. Strategists at global investment banks, brokerages and funds have turned more positive on China. Goldman Sachs and UBS raised the market to overweight as early as October, while Jefferies and Credit Suisse upgraded it last month.

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One of the must-ask interview questions for banking and finance is: “Have you read any news recently?”, with the follow-up questions: “How would you link this news to the market and what investment suggestions would you give to your clients based on this news?” .

Showing your market sense and ability to provide feasible investment ideas would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Therefore, apart from the weekly news update / investment insights, we have also generated this Weekly Market Summary for you to have a quick understanding of the market development and tips to answer some hot discussion topics. Take a look of the summary and WhatsApp us in the group if you have questions.