AHR Weekly Market Update - Monday 18th December
On this week’s AHR Market review.Welcome to this week’s AHR market review for the week ending 17th December 2023.Equity markets continued their strong end to the year, spurred by the prospect of near-term interest rate cuts, as several indexes reach levels close to their all-time highs. The U.S. Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.50% for its third meeting in a row but indicated that it’s likely to shift soon to a more accommodative stance. While there was uncertainty ahead of the meeting around what the Fed's new set of economic projections would reveal, particularly around the path of interest rates, the Fed did not disappoint the markets. The European Central Bank and Bank of England followed suit and kept their rates on hold. In the UK, the central bank confirmed that rates would be elevated for an “extended period of time” to curb inflation. US equity markets climbed nearly 3% over the week on the revised expectations for interest rate cuts throughout 2024. The shifting interest rate outlook sparked a price rally in the bond market, sending yields lower. That’s all for this week’s AHR Weekly Podcast. We will be taking a break from recording over the festive period, so thank you for listening this year and we look forward to keeping you informed again as we move into 2024.