Weekly Market Summary

💡1. The Federal Open Market Committee meeting in May signals that the central bank wants to quickly and aggressively hike rates at the next couple of meetings to allow officials the ability to pause to assess the effects of policy firming on the economy, inflation and financial markets. This may slash subjective odds of a recession in the next 12 months. Fed comments aside, the U.S. economy has softened, and the economic data have been coming in weaker than anticipated.

💡2. JPMorgan Chase chief executive warned investors to brace themselves for an economic “hurricane” as the war in Ukraine and policy tightening by the Federal Reserve roil markets. Dimon struck a gloomier tone on the economic outlook than in remarks he made just last week during JPMorgan’s first investor day in two years, when he referred to the threats as “storm clouds”. Dimon warned investors that the war in Ukraine would continue to put pressure on global commodity markets and that the conflict could push oil prices up to $150 or $175 a barrel

💡3. While the Russian businesses have been hit hard by tech sanctions, there is no respite on other aspects. Mood’y predicts that the oil supply disruption from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be between 2 million and 3 million barrels per day. However, the EU is proposing a dramatic restructuring of global energy markets, and the global economic fallout could be significant. The EU has declared that Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier, and it proposes that its member states cease purchasing Russian oil and processed fuels by the end of 2022. This would displace approximately 4% of the global oil supply and half of Russia’s oil exports. Europe will look to the Middle East, Africa and the Americas for suppliers. The EU ban could precipitate the most substantial reshuffling of global oil supply in history.

💡4. Hong Kong investors’ demand for low-risk products and defensive asset management is rising because of financial market volatility, which has led to some brokerages introducing new products. The first quarter saw major international markets go into a tailspin due to geopolitical tensions, Covid-19 lockdowns in China and rising interest rates globally. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index fell nearly 6 per cent in the first three months, while the Hang Seng Tech Index plummeted 20 per cent as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in March.

You can find the latest "Weekly Market Summary" 📔 here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HPPOJORRwA1czQGelouPu1EuIkW3Mqu5/view?usp=sharing 

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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."