Only tech stocks traded higher in the first week of May. In the US, the S&P went down by -0.73%, Nasdaq100 is up by 0.23% and DJIA is down by -1.30%. In Europe the markets had a similar movement. AEX went down by -0.54% and Stoxx600 was up by 0.25%. FTSE 100 went down by -0.68%.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 no longer a global emergency. After three years of travel restrictions and lockdowns, this summer is expected to be very profitable for companies in the tourism industry. This means big profits, especially for airline companies. Moving away from the pandemic, airline companies have been demanding more and more planes from aerospace companies causing them to struggle with supplying their needs.
The FED signaled it could soon calm down on the aggressive monetary policy they have been implementing over the past year. Chair Jerome Powell also stated that the recent rate increases were influenced by the troubles that the US currently has in its banking industry. Although concerns of a mild recession still exist in the US, the job market is certainly proving otherwise. The job market continues to strengthen as recent data points to 253,000 added jobs within the month of April.
The past Saturday was a big day for Britain as King Charles III was crowned king. The coronation of the king boosted spending substantially. Spending by foreigners amounted to over £1.4bn over the weekend. However, the past weekend is not very representative of the actual state of the economy. The UK, especially London, has been suffering majorly from high cost of living. Retail analyst Tash Van Boxel stated: “People don’t have a lot of discretionary spend, so they can’t afford to be spending on non-essentials.” Inflation continues to be a big concern in the UK.
Flow Traders Investment Competition Update
Negotium Novum is still leading the competition with a M2 of 15.82%. They are even taking some distance from our new number 2, Mercury, who have a M2 of 13.17%. For the second week in a row De Ruyter Capital have risen a lot, leading to the 9th place this week, entering the top 10. Then, there are some groups that can use some help investing. One of them is Concordia International, losing 10 places this week. Also, Batavia Vrouwen en INVICTI, as they have been at the bottom of the competition for a long time now. For them there is one advice. Even though the registrations for the Stock Pitch Competition is closed, they can probably learn enough by just watching from the audience.
