• Macro: Equities were mixed yesterday with the Eurostoxx600 down slightly, whilst the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were both in the green, with US markets continuing to trend higher with the S&P500 reaching a new record high. From an economic perspective later today, we have Durable Goods Orders, 3Q GDP, and Initial Jobless Claims at 13:30, with Pending Home Sales at 15:00. From central bank speakers, we have Lane from the ECB today.
• Stock: Yesterday we met with the CFO of FBD. We came away reassured that the business continues to operate in a stable environment and maintain our price target at €16 and Buy recommendation. (Comment attached)
• Debt: Core bond yields were relatively unchanged yesterday in a day of light economic news

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Risk assets endured a difficult week last week contending with an initial further move higher in global bond yields, hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and at the end of the week, weakness in the banking sector caused by uncertainty over the solvency position of US venture capital funding bank Silicon Valley Bank. The combination of all these factors resulted in average declines of circa 3.2% for global equity markets. In our recent Weekly Trader and Daily Note commentaries we have been highlighting the headwind that rising bond yields, as a result of a repricing higher for central bank terminal rates, were posing for risk assets. In the first part of last week this continued to be the case as core bond yields moved to multi-month highs. This move higher in yields continued to be driven by the recent higher-than-expected global inflation data, but was exacerbated by a more hawkish than expected tone from Fed Chair Jerome Powell during his semi-annual testimony to the US Senate Banking Committee. During his testimony, Chair Powell stated that the Fed is prepared to speed up the pace of rate increases if data indicates that a faster pace of tightening is warranted and that the ultimate level of interest rates may be higher than previously expected.