The clouds are gathering

As the Fed meeting approaches this week, markets seem to be growing increasingly concerned. There is no shortage of worries: the pandemic remains present and continues to disrupt global production and distribution chains, which is increasing inflationary pressures, as evidenced by the acceleration of producer prices to +12% yoy in August in Germany.

In addition to the probable future tightening of US monetary policy, the budgetary situation is worrying with the need to re-evaluate the public debt ceiling in the coming weeks, while the recovery plan seems to be bogged down in the internal quarrels of the Democratic Party. Finally, the collapse of the Evergrande real estate developer in China has fanned fears of contagion and caused the Hang Seng to plunge by more than 3% in Hong Kong. The US dollar is strengthening quite significantly, a sign that risk aversion is on the rise: the EUR/USD exchange rate is approaching 1.17, its lowest level for a month.

Today’s calendar is fairly light, before a busy week: the NAHB index of the US market will still be published.