A dead cat bounce?

US equity markets bounced back on Tuesday, reversing some of the sharp losses recorded last week on the back of an historical 75 bp interest rate increase from the Fed to fight the highest inflation rate in four decades. But Asian equity markets did not follow the rebound overnight as recession fears continue to cloud the horizon and the USD strengthened further: the JPYUSD rate hit a new 24-year high above the 136 per dollar mark, supported by a wide interest rate spread between Japan and the US.

On the agenda today, UK inflation figures confirmed that the peak has not been reached yet: the May-22 UK CPI was released at 9.1% yoy this morning, up from 9.0% in April-22 with the potential to reach 11% by October-22 according to the Bank of England, notably with a likely hike in the UK energy price cap. Decreasing purchasing power in Europe may keep the Euro Zone Consumer Confidence Index (release at 16:00 PM Paris time) close to lows reached during the Covid crisis two years ago.