On Point

It was a highly eventful week across financial markets, with equity markets mixed and long bond yields rising further. The S&P 500 index broke a three-week winning streak while the local NZX 50 posted its third consecutive weekly rise. Central banks will be in focus this week, with the annual symposium in Jackson Hole taking place from Thursday through Saturday. The corporate calendar will also be busy everywhere, with plenty of local results due as well as the latest earnings release from NVIDIA in the US.

There’s lots of nervousness about sharemarket valuationsat the moment. That’s understandable, especially regarding the US market which has more than tripled in value since the end of 2018. How should investors be thinking about valuations right now, and is it a good time to put capital towork?

We'll get a raft of local releases this week, with Selected Price Indexes and the Performance of Services Index for July due Monday, before the results of a dairy auction on Wednesday. However, the main event will be the earnings season which ramps up in a big way on the NZX. We're hoping for some solid results, while outlook commentaries will be in focus to help gauge the state of the broader economy and the health of our listed corporates.

The local earnings season is upon us, with a plethora of listed companies due to announce results this month. This will offer some valuable insights into the state of corporate New Zealand and the broader economy, after a mixed bag of indicators in recent months.

The economic highlight of the week will be the CPI inflation report in the US, which covers the month of July and is out on Wednesday. This release takes on greater importance after the soft jobs report, which saw expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes fall back sharply. Markets now see a greater chance of no change at the September meeting.