Axiome March update 2023

Both equity and bond markets bounced higher in the March quarter, following increasing signs that central banks are getting on top of inflationary pressures.  However, the pattern of returns was quite volatile.  Equity markets surged in January on the back of reducing interest rate expectations, only to sell off most of this gain in February and into early March as the banking sector particularly came under pressure with the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.  Later in March markets rose again as banking contagion risks receded, and macroeconomic data, in general, reported better than expected.