Stocks pull back as bond yields rise

Our Weekly Market Overview from Quilter Cheviot

by Alan McIntosh, Chief Investment Strategist

Global stock markets pared recent gains last week, with the MSCI All Country World Index falling 1.4% on the week but still closing around 7% higher year-to-date. In the absence of any major fresh news, trade was dominated by the follow-through reaction to January’s gangbusting US employment report as bond yields continued to rise significantly.

The US 10-year Treasury note gained 21 basis points last week, ending at 3.74% and down 14 basis points for 2023 – the bond was hovering around 3.36% going into the US jobs release, close to its lowest levels since early September. The undoubted strength of the data raised concerns surrounding inflation and although Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell essentially reiterated his comments made in the days before the release, other governors have been a little more hawkish…

The value of your investments and the income from them can fall and you may not recover what you invested.