Niv Dagan

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed for a third day after yesterday posting the strongest increase in two weeks as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen signalled officials will be cautious in raising rates due to heightened economic risks overseas. The dollar headed for its steepest monthly drop since 2010.

With Easter over, we are now turning our attention to macro-data and these will be the main driving points for this week… US employment and manufacturing will be “on-show” on Friday night and with Janet Yellen talking tomorrow night, things will certainly get interesting…. Banks will also be in focus, following ANZ’s admission that bad debts have risen…

Last night, another terrorist attack hit. This time in Brussels. Markets held up ok, while gold rallied on the back of a “flight to safety”… This Easter, spend some quality time with your family and friends as this is really important. Over $19 Billion of dividends will be returned to shareholders this week. Will this boost markets?

Global markets continued to rally on Friday night, following yellen’s move to leave interest rates on hold for an extended period. We attended the Grand Prix on Saturday and although it certainly is a boost to the economy, we are glad it is over… This week, we have the chairman of Bega Cheese coming for a PEAKTV interview…. So keep an eye for this… happy Monday…

Good morning… Finally, Janet Yellen listens to us, sits on her hands and advises the market that US interest rates will only rise twice this year. Commodities Rally. USD Falls. Global Markets Jump… The only uncertainty now is what impact a Donald Trump presidential win would have on the AUS-US relationship… only time will tell…

Good Morning from Beijing… I have spent the last four days here talking at the AUS-China Investment seminar across four cities with Partners of Hall Chadwick and Thomas Geer. It has been a “surreal” opportunity and after speaking with the locals about the economy, government policies and eating lots of local Chinese food, I can comfortably tell you that growth in China is definitely slowing…. But there is more to it…..

The current correlation between crude oil and US stocks is ~91%, according to Bloomberg. This means that as oil moves higher, global stocks “should” rally… but what is the correlation between US stocks and inflation? The week that was….

Global markets surged overnight as global central banks are on the verge of adding additional stimulus to the ailing economy. Will the RBA follow suit? Well… interest rates were left on hold yesterday, but it is Wesfarmers that is worried about competition…