Markets down as fresh worries of global recession appear

US equities continued sinking on Thursday, followed by investors’ further concerns on global recession with Treasury yield curve inversion and Fed representatives’ speeches on more rate hikes to combat inflation as signals. The Dow Jones traded lower 0.7% to 33,699, the S&P Index lost 0.9% to 4081, and the Nasdaq ended down 1% to 11,789. Treasury yields also went up from yesterday, with the yield on the 2-year note gains 9bps to 4.51% and the yield on the 10-year note increased 10 bps to 3.69%. US Dollar strengthened with DXY up 0.15% to 103.3. Strong labor market data, released on Thursday with unexpected upside on jobless claims, also did not bring positive to market, and better than estimates corporates results also give not much help. Next week major interest of investors will be towards Core CPI data.

Military actions continue in Ukraine, with massive missile attacks by Russian forces on Kharkov and Zaporozhe last night. Today also Kiev has been the victim of missile attacks. On the Russian stock markets IMOEX ended Monday 0.5% higher at 2,262 level, while the RTSI traded down 0.39% to 977 points. Today’s morning showed negative dynamic: IMOEX slipped 0.4% to 2,253, while RTSI continued decline with 0.5% down to 972 level. On the bond space RGBITR (gov bonds) and RUCBITR (corp bonds) slightly decreased on Thursday and fluctuate today, with combined dynamics of -0.06% to 613.5 and +0.02% to 499.5, correspondingly, with 10y benchmark yield at 10.39% (flat vs yesterday).

European markets are traded in red zone during today’s trading session, following UK weak economic data and more concerns to global recession. On the stock markets, the DAX index in Germany traded this morning lower 1.2% at 15,340 level, while the CAC 40 in France is down 0.8% to 7,127 level, and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. with -0.4% to 7,877 points. 10Y GILT and 10Y Deutsche Bundus yields went up, gaining 5bps to 3.36% and 4bps to 2.34%, correspondingly. Next week major interest of investors will be towards Core CPI data in the UK and Germany. Also same type of data from the US may also affect EU markets.

SSA opens weak to end a tepid a relatively muted trading week following an overnight spike in rates. NGERIA (+.75) led gains on Thursday with duration, 47s in particular, being well bid. ANGOL (-.125) struggled to stay afloat even as 2022 GDP is expected to have grown 3%, outperforming a 2.7% forecast. Bonds leading the slide at the open, down .875 points while NGERIA is down .625pts with long end heavily sold.

The NTB secondary market closed on a positive note with average yields dropping by 12bps across the curve. Average yields across the short & long ends remained unchanged while yields on the medium end dropped by 50bps.

In the OMO secondary market, average yields closed on a flat note across the curve. Average yields remained unchanged.

The FGN bonds secondary market closed on a positive note with average yields across the curve dropped by 15bps. Average yields on the short & medium ends dropped by 90bps & 5bps respectively. However, the long end of the curve closed flat. The Mar 2025 bond was the best performer and the Apr 2049 bond was the worst performer.