As global equity markets go, June has been a little disjointed.  We have seen decent gains in the broader US indices, Germany and Japan, while most other European shares have slid, not to mention the TSX. If anything, this has reinforced the observations since the start of the year—that correlations between regions, as well as companies, appears to have broken down.  What has stood out this month though is the retracement in technology shares. Read More…

This afternoon the US Federal Reserve decided to lift its fed funds target rate another quarter-point to 1.25%, making it the third straight hike. The decision had been well communicated in recent speeches and from the minutes of the May FOMC, so it should not have been a surprise. What was a little perplexing for investors today is that it is continuing to anticipate one more rate hike this year even though recent data has not portrayed the US economy as accelerating. Read More…