The DAX Futures is trading at 12,849.50 up with +0.36% or +45.70 point.The FTSE 100 Futures is trading at 6,092.30 up with +0.33% percent or +20.20 point. The CAC 40 Futures is trading at 4,948.50 up with +0.02% percent or +1.00 point.The EURO Stoxx 50 Futures trading at 3,304.00 up with +0.12% percent or +4.00 point.
TODAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS
With zero interest rate policy, and massive QE driving rates on the long end of the borrowing curve lower, investors have been looking for an expansion in multiples to drive stock prices up. After all, the claim is that there is no alternative, and with earnings expected to plunge due to the coronavirus pandemic, the only thing that can push stocks higher are the multiples. But history tends to tell a different story. Low rates do not produce higher multiples, earnings do.
We saw this low-rate narrative before, when rates plunged following the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. It took years for multiples to expand. Europe has had low rates for just as long of a period, and even multiples in an export-driven, robust economy like Germany have not seen the same level of expansion as we have in the US today.
YESTERDAY ACTIVITY
For the day Germany’s DAX closed at 12,838.06 with a loss of -2.02% percent or –265.33 point.the FTSE 100 closed at 6,123.82 with a loss of –1.41% percent or –87.62 point. France’s CAC 40 closed at 4,956.43 with a loss of –1.54% percent or –77.32 point.
WORLD MARKETS
For the day the Dow is trading at 26,469.89 with a loss of -0.68% percent or -182.44 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 3,215.63 with a loss of –0.62% percent or -20.03 point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 10,363.18 with a loss of -0.94% percent or -98.24 point.
In other parts of world, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at at 22,715.85 with a loss of –0.16% percent or –35.76 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 24,606.45 with a loss of –0.40% percent or –98.88 point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 3,186.73 with a loss of –0.31% percent or –10.03 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 37,988.58 with a loss of -0.37% percent or –140.32 point at 12:15 PM