This week we used a couple of AI programs to produce an AI generated market summary, and then added our own commentary below for comparison.

It may be drawing a long bow but it now seems plausible that, just below the surface, AI inspired optimism has helped markets remain surprising resilient throughout this year, particularly when facing the US regional banking crisis that started in mid-March and more recently the polemic surrounding the US Debt Ceiling.

All that mattered in markets last week was AI, at not just who is going to make money in this space but who already is...

Nothing continued to happen last week (and the week before that, for that matter). Apart from two outlying and positive market moves, that is, the Nasdaq went up and so did Japanese equities, for reasons that couldn’t be more different.

As John Wayne said in The Lucky Texan (1934), “It’s quiet out there. Ain’t natural”. That seems to sum up what many traders and managers feel about markets at the moment, as the noisy post-COVID data environment continues to confuse.

April was a muddle through month where most markets ended where they started, some having moved about a bit more than others. The Nasdaq, and by extension the US market, continued to be the lightning rod for risk, but ended the month just in positive territory. Emerging markets were slightly down, while the biggest winner was Japan.

Jonathan Tolub provides a primer on Andrew Hunt’s recent research, and views on US banks and Asian economic activity in particular.

After a relatively quiet few weeks the financial newswires have sprung back into life with positive US earnings surprises, another distressed US bank and an Australian inflation print that appears to have something for everyone.

Jonathan Ramsay and Jonathan Tolub discuss the upcoming Portfolio Construction Forum Finology Summit 2023, which will be on Wednesday May 3rd 2023. If you are interested in attending the Finology Summit live or online, contact Paul Carrington at [email protected]

Markets have been remarkably well behaved since Easter, as most markets are up by 1-2% across the board with very little volatility.