United States

Is it QE or is it earnings?

Authored by Christoph Gisiger and Mark Dittli via Finanz Und Wirtschaft,

Howard Marks, Co-Chairman of the US investment firm Oaktree Capital warns that valuations in the financial markets are uncomfortably high and that investors are acting too complacent.

Last Friday, when looking at the historic, record lows in September volatility and the daily highs in US and global equity markets, BofA's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett said that the "best reason to be bearish in Q4 is there is no reason to be bearish."

While central banks step away from the spotlight, as does Asian data and markets with China and South Korea both taking a weeklong break, there will be a bevy of central bank speakers to "explain" what is going on while it will be a busy week data wise, with the US employment trade balance report due this week, PMI and retail sales in Euro area, as well as PMI and house prices in UK. The key central bank events include the Australia RBA board meeting, ECB minutes,Yellen and Fed member speeches. In Emerging Markets, there are monetary policy meetings in India, Poland and Romania.

In a fascinating report that provides a glimpse into the shadowy North Korean black-market economy, the Washington Post has published a story about a 2016 incident in which Egyptian authorities intercepted a North Korean ship bearing a Cambodian flag after being alerted by US authorities. After searching the ship, Egyptian law enforcement discovered something unexpected: a trove of nearly 24,000 rocket launchers, and components for 6,000 more weapons, hidden below a large pile of loose iron ore.