The well-known stock market rule “sell in May and go away” has not been confirmed this year. Global share prices recovered across the board over the summer, driven by the central banks’ liquidity bubble. In our view, this will not change any time soon, even though the Federal Reserve is expected to take a triple step on interest rates in December. The ECB continues to be driven by the countries bordering the Mediterranean and will in all likelihood decide on further easing of monetary policy – probably an extension of the bond purchase program.
In the run-up to the US presidential elections, share prices are moving slightly away from their highs for the year as soon as the forecast pendulum swings towards the Republicans. And all this with quite high price volatility. As soon as November 8, 2016 is history and it is clear who will move into the White House in Washington DC in January, the heated tempers will calm down and the old adage “political stock markets have short legs” will ensure that general calm returns. We continue to believe that a year-end rally in Europe is likely.
We have terminated our Oman project prematurely and will not continue to operate in this region for the time being, although we remain convinced that the Arabian Peninsula is certainly facing an economically prosperous future. However, access to the markets is comparatively difficult for us as very small investors. We also have some good news for our customers: the low inflation expectations allow us to keep our price list valid until the end of 2018 without any changes.
We wish all friends of our company a peaceful Advent season and look forward to meeting you at or around our industry get-together in Düsseldorf at the end of November.
