The final full week of June was certainly a rocky period to be in the equity markets, as quickly changing expectations led to huge increases in volatility and large movements in commodity markets. Meanwhile, in Europe, worries over Greece temporarily subsided as the Prime Minister of the nation survived a confidence vote, setting the stage for a crucial debate next week regarding further austerity measures. However, worries are already beginning to spread to other, large nations including Italy, one of the eight largest economies in the world by GDP. EWI, the main Italian ETF was down by over 3% to close out the week as fears over a downgrade left many investors running for the exits to close out the week. Closer to home, the Federal Reserve also met this past week, announcing an end to the QE2 program as anticipated at the end of the month. However, while Bernanke and Company didn’t feel the need for another round of QE, they did say that the economy is still very weak and that worries remain for the global economic picture. So with this Fed meeting and uncertainty over Europe it was an eventful week to say the least in the markets.
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