Monthly Comments

During the month, many companies reported figures for the first quarter. In summary, the reports have been relatively good, with generally strong order intake and signs of continued diminishing pandemic effects.

The news flow during March has mainly been about the financial sector and risks associated with the banks. The trigger was the US Silicon Valley Bank, which got into big trouble after it placed deposits from its customers in US government bonds...

January's positive market sentiment shifted somewhat in February. European stock markets held up well, but in the US and in emerging markets, the trend was down. Mainly, the negative sentiment...

2022 was characterized by large movements in the financial markets with decreasing
prices for both stocks and bonds. Easing pandemic effects with better functioning
logistics chains and more...

The new year began with big gains on the world's stock markets. Hopes that a coming recession will be milder than expected, or even avoidable altogether, fuelled the stock prices.

After strong stock market performance during October and November, mainly driven by signals of declining inflation and hopes for softer central banks, market sentiment changed as focus shifted to the state of the economy and a possible slowdown.

Markets kept rising during November. Strong demand in global industry, a slightly lower inflation rate with falling commodity prices and less hawkish tones from the central banks contributed to the positive sentiment. Both the ECB and the FED...

Despite continued high inflation figures, the major stock indexes rose in October. The companies' reports for the third quarter have been in focus, generally they have been satisfactory. On the Swedish side, the industrial companies showed continued strong order intake, higher costs with some margin pressure as a result, and positive currency effects due to a weak SEK.

The negative market sentiment from the second half of August continued during September. The Stockholm SAX index fell close to 7.5% and the Nasdaq exchange in the US by just over 10%, which means that they have both lost just over 30% year to date.

The positive sentiment in July and halfway into August ended in the middle of the month as markets turned negative. Above all, there were several indications from the world's central banks that further interest rate increases are to be expected.