Insights

Global equity markets gave back some of their year-to-date gains so far in September, while government bond yields moved noticeably higher.

Global equity markets have declined slightly so far in August, aided by the U.S. credit rating downgrade by Fitch Ratings, one of three leading credit rating agencies.

Investors have been tasked with interpreting a flurry of global economic data over the past two weeks, including signals of resilient but moderating growth in North America, broadening economic weakness in Europe, and a stalled recovery in China.

It has been a busy start to the summer. This week, the Bank of Canada raised its policy interest rate by 0.25%, as expected. Inflation figures released this week in the U.S. suggested that pricing pressures continue to ease.

The volatility of equity prices in global markets has recently been near multi-year lows, despite renewed uncertainty regarding the path of interest rates.