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Record exports, FMA regulations

Steel & Tube, Fonterra, Argosy, Sanford, Zespri

Comvita, Steel & Tube updates

Looking ahead, global markets face a more balanced set of tailwinds and headwinds than was the case a year ago.

Global equities rebounded in April, partly unwinding the declines from the previous two months. The rebound came despite a lift in global bond yields and reflected ongoing good growth in earnings.

While the sudden increase in market volatility in February raises concerns, we do not believe that the bull market in equities has yet come to an end.

Sharemarkets weakened for a second consecutive month in March, eliminating gains recorded in January. Major indices fell, the S&P 500 returned -2.69%, the FTSE 100 fell -2.54%, and the ASX 200 was down -4.27%.

Aside from the February turbulence in equity markets, global economic growth should hold up well and inflation should remain low in 2018.

Sharemarkets got off to a rocky start with the US S&P 500 index down 4.97% for the first week in February. This fed through to the NZX which was down 2.26% over the same period but managed to claw back most of that by the end of the month, to finish down -0.8%.

Although we believe price pressures will ultimately remain contained in 2018 and even into 2019, there is scope for expectations of inflation to rise further as economic growth continues and central banks move towards monetary normalisation.