Best month in 3 years

Market participants heaved a collective sigh of relief as both the equity and fixed income markets enjoyed a strong rebound in November after an underwhelming September and October. In fact, November 2023 was the best month for both equities and bonds in the past 3 years. The MSCI ACWI was up about 9.2% (in USD terms) while the Bloomberg Global Aggregate climbed 3.4% (hedged, USD).

Rate hikes are working

The macro backdrop supporting the rise in the market returns can be essentially distilled into three key components. Central banks (US and Eurozone) pausing on further rate hikesDeclining core and headline inflation across the major economiesThe U.S. October Jobs report released in November indicated a slowdown in the pace of hiring and unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.9% from 3.8% in September All three components signalled that the rate hikes are working their...