Le pétrole a franchi la barre des 40 dollars le baril suite à la baisse continue de la production américaine ainsi que l’approche de la rencontre entre les principaux producteurs de pétrole qui négocieront un gel de la production pour soutenir les prix. La hausse du pétrole cette semaine ne doit cependant pas faire oublier les inquiétudes des investisseurs quant à la faible croissance économique mondiale. Ce sentiment est renforcé par la probable baisse, par le FMI, des perspectives de croissance mondiale suite à la révision, par l’OMC, des prévisions de croissance du commerce, citant le ralentissement chinois.

Janet Yellen a encore frappé…La présidente de la Fed a souligné cette semaine sa position prudente quant à la hausse des taux américains. Bien que confiante pour l’économie US, elle a fait remarquer qu’une politique monétaire plus ferme couplée à une croissance mondiale faible et à l’incertitude quant à la politique de change de la Chine pourrait potentiellement avoir un impact négatif outre-Atlantique.

It felt a bit like a mid-January deja-vu this week with equities and commodities getting crushed, the dollar rallying, and much talk about a change in monetary policy. Global stocks mostly fell on Thursday as uninspiring economic data and lower oil prices weighed on sentiment. A flurry of data painted a weaker-than-expected picture of the U.S. economy, however, stocks showed a rally later on news that US oil rig count fell by 15 this week, lifting oil prices from session lows. On top of that, traders remained mostly cautious with many leading markets closed on Friday and Monday for the Easter weekend holiday…

Weeks come and go and are more or less alike on global markets. Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures as ECB’s President surpassed investors’ expectations by cutting all three main interest rates and increasing monthly asset purchases to a higher-than-hoped 80 billion euros. The move triggered buying across emerging markets, which benefit from low borrowing costs in developed nations as investors seek higher returns in riskier assets. The excitement was quickly contained and the volatility maintained when during his press conference Draghi stated that the ECB was not planning further interest rate cuts sending stocks lower Thursday before a new rally on Friday as investors digested the news.