Weekly Market Update - 8 January 2024

December Hiring

US companies ramped up hiring in December and wage gains continued to ease, consistent with an outlook for sustained economic growth and diminishing inflation. Private payrolls increased 164,000 last month, the most since August, according to figures from the ADP Research Institute. Wage growth that’s topping inflation while slowly cooling can support US consumer spending, a potentially bullish sign for equities across the board.

Source: Bloomberg

India Recap

Robust economic growth, an infrastructure push and a pause in interest-rate increases helped propel India’s equity market to successive highs in 2023 and a record eighth-straight year of gains. Expectations of continued inflows from retail and foreign investors, as well as strong growth in corporate earnings, are encouraging bets on a ninth.

Source: Bloomberg

Silicon Valley Bank

The US has yet to fully address one of the greatest weaknesses revealed by last year’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank and other regional lenders: Supervisors saw the problems, but failed to compel action before it was too late. That’s according to Bill Dudley, a former head of the New York Fed. He says that if SVB had acted more promptly on supervisors’ warnings — by raising capital and reducing its exposure to long-term interest rates — it could still be in business today. Disclosing supervisors’ material findings, with a prudent lag, would encourage everyone to act in the broader financial system’s best interests, according to Dudley.

Source: Bloomberg