While financial vulnerability is the main focus for investors, inflation data releases in the US, the euro zone and Japan will be carefully watched.

The US Federal Reserve bank will hold its FOMC meeting followed by a press conference. Investors are eager to find out how the stress on US banks and its potential filtering through the real economy will impact its policy.

The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest bank in the United States, triggered a shockwave through financial markets. Despite their resilience, European equity markets nevertheless also had to give away some ground in this environment. During this correction, and especially since the beginning of March, growth stocks outperformed value stocks, and large caps outperformed small caps.

During February, economic and inflation data came in slightly above expectations, which helped cool the market down. Central banks reiterated the message that the market should expect monetary policy to maintain its course until we see significant signs that inflation is abating.

Uncertainties on US and European financials have replaced the better economic growth outlook in investor’s minds. Suddenly, the improvement in activity is now mitigated by financial vulnerabilities and inflation stickiness.

Portfolios managed by Candriam have no exposure to any Credit Suisse security, OTC exposure or stock-lending exposure.

In the weeks to mid-March, the dominating theme was perhaps the return of decorrelation between risky assets and rates. All G4 sovereign issuers saw falls in their 10-year yields, while major equity indices all took hits. Credit spreads also widened.

The year of 2022 proved to be one of the most challenging and volatile for emerging market (EM) equities.