30^th October 2009

Commercial Real Estate Outlook

Commercial property has been a very popular asset class over the last decade. Investors who were spooked by the equity market dot-com crash were encouraged to invest in commercial property. Investors were encouraged to speculate on a form of “carry trade”- borrow at historic low interest rates and lease the property to take advantage of high rental yields and capital growth (a return on their principle). Add globalisation and the ability to move money globally for very little cost to the mix and this strategy presented very attractive opportunities.

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28^th October 2009

Commodity Overview

Focus on Oil

Over the last five days oil futures initially pushed higher, printing yearly highs at $81.99 before giving up the gains. This down move was the result of some slight weakness entering the equity space as concerns around Federal stimulus removal circulated.

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Bond Futures

Overview

Over the last five days we have seen the Bund give up more ground, dropping as low as 120.50 yesterday. An even more aggressive down move was recorded in the US Ten Year; yesterday the yield breached 3.5% as fears surrounding large supply this week resulted in an ongoing sell off in the face of equity weakness.

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26^th October 2009

Equity Index Overview

Over the last week S&P 500 futures predominantly traded sideways, although they did find time to post new yearly highs at 1099.00. In a week dominated by earnings, which on the whole were strong, a negative GDP figure out of the UK which was expected to be positive and signal a transition out of recession did capture the markets attention.

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22^nd October 2009

Commodity Overview

Focus on COMEX Copper futures (Dec’09)

 Yesterday copper broke out to the up-side of its recent range. The market had spent the last 8 weeks trading between $290.00 and $270.00 on the Dec’09 contract. Continued USD weakness has spurred further risk appetite helping the market break through previous YTD highs at 298.85. (more…)