OECD hikes global growth forecasts; European stock markets rally to one-year high – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- European markets highest since February 2020
- Nasdaq surges 3% as tech stocks bounce back
- OECD raises global growth forecasts
- US growth forecast doubled after Biden boost
- German exports to UK down 29% year-on-year in January
- China’s State Funds ‘intervene’ as market slides again
Hundreds of staff at UK cycling chain Evans are facing the threat of unemployment, even though demand for bicycles has been strong since the first lockdown.
More than 300 jobs are expected to go at Evans Cycles, and hundreds of remaining store staff are to be switched to zero-hours contracts, as Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group aims to slash costs.
Related: Mike Ashley-owned Evans Cycles to axe 300 staff
Back in New York, the Nasdaq Composite continues to rally – now up 3.89% or 490 points at 13,100 points.
That will bring relief to technology investors, who watched the Nasdaq sink into correction territory last night (down 10% from February’s record highs).
History suggests that the drawdown could last 121 trading days if this is an average drawdown in terms of its recovery profile. This we think would profoundly alter investor psychology as the new group of retail investors arriving at equity markets last year have never experienced slow grinding equity markets for very long. Our thesis is that growth investing and its near-term support will hinge on the drawdown length and thus is a key indicator to monitor going forward.
The Nasdaq 100 is 15 trading sessions into the current drawdown, down 10.9% [as of last night] and our bubble stocks basket is down 27.9% since the peak. Listening to many growth investors, both professional and retail, it has been a violent move, and many has been taken by surprise, or at least, many had underestimated the interest rate sensitivity and not given it much thought.
