NEW YORK (Reuters) – Volatility has been the watchword for markets in the last several months, as worries over a hawkish Fed, sky-high commodity prices and geopolitical tensions stemming from the war in Ukraine roil asset prices.
The S&P 500 was recently down 1.2% on Friday and yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury were at a near 4-year high of 3.12%, capping off a week that saw massive swings in stocks and bonds in the days following the Fed’s monetary policy meeting.
Here are charts showing how volatility has broken out across markets and various factors driving the moves.
GRAPHIC: Volatile world – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/gkplgkewnvb/Pasted%20image%201651850464155.png
Volatility has surged across asset classes over the last year, with stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities all experiencing more pronounced moves. Worries over how aggressively the Fed will tighten monetary policy in response to surging inflation has been a key driver of the moves, sparking gyrations in fixed-income markets, boosting the dollar to 20-year highs and weighing on stocks.
Concerns over how monetary policy tightening by central banks will affect global growth have recently come to the fore, with the Bank of England warning Thursday that Britain risks a double-whammy of a recession and inflation above 10% as it raised interest rates to their highest since 2009.
GRAPHIC: Real bad – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/mypmnyroevr/Pasted%20image%201651850295599.png
Another…
