Investors will have woken up to increased downward volatility, both in equity markets and bond markets. Especially the early-January surprise of higher than expected inflation readings together with the FED and other National Banks increasing interest rates and surprising market participants with aggressive future interest rate increases led to a quite dramatic upward shift in the bond yield curve:
Regular readers of this blog will understand that bond prices are inversely related to bond yields. As a result, the first quarter of 2022 was historically the worst quarter for long-duration bonds since January 2001.
The subsequent Russia-Ukraine conflict added to the losses for both equities and bonds but resulted in sharp rises in commodities, especially natural gas, nickel, and crude oil markets.
Please enjoy reading our quarterly market review by clicking HERE or by clicking the image below: