Market Update – September 2026
August was a month of loud headlines and quiet markets. The Strait of Hormuz stayed at the center of the global risk equation, Brent held near USD 92, and the Fed, the ECB and the BoJ all maintained their positions.
Market Update – August 2026
July looked calm from a distance and was anything but underneath. Headline indices barely moved, yet the makeup of the market changed.
Market Update – July 2026
June rewarded patience over prediction.
The Iran ceasefire pulled the Middle East risk premium out of oil and gold almost as fast as it went in, and risk sentiment came back with it. Stocks rallied on the relief, with European equities rallying the most since the region is more exposed to oil prices.
Market Update – June 2026
On the surface, markets looked fine: indices near record highs, earnings strong, the kind of numbers that make it tempting to stop asking questions. But the more you look at what drove those returns, the less straightforward the picture becomes.
Market Update – May 2026
April was a reminder that war rarely moves markets the way textbooks predict.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz should, by any traditional reading, have spelled trouble for risk assets. It did, briefly. What happened next is more surprising, and more instructive, than the initial shock.
Market update – April 2026
March was, in short, a very difficult month for investors and for anyone trying to make sense of what is happening in the world.
