Despite the fact that firms have made considerable progress in addressing inventory accumulation, the Fed remains concerned about forthcoming capital expenditure. It maintains its easing bias going forward.
Equity markets appear to be pricing in a recovery by the end of the next quarter.
With a slowing economy coming at the same time as rising prices, the ECB will have its work cut out for it over the next few months. The oil price is a problem that refuses to go away. For the last month or so it has been driven by the tightness in the US petrol market. Traders are worried that inventories of petrol are too low in relation to expected demand for the next few months. Data released this week show that petrol stocks are finally climbing.