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In the Financial Times, Robin Wigglesworth calls the recent market rally “trashy.” He writes:

Markets have started the year where they ended 2021, rallying on hopes that inflation has peaked, central banks are about to pivot and the global economy is doing a lot better than feared.

This has lifted most boats, both in equities and fixed income. The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 7 per cent in January, while the Bloomberg Global Aggregate bond index is up 3.3 per cent. In terms of breadth, this is the best start to a year since 2019, according to Deutsche Bank.

And this is a proper risk-on rally. Consumer discretionary is the best performing sector, which is . . . counter-intuitive in a cost of living crisis that many people think will morph into a recession. Meanwhile, utilities, staples and healthcare are all down.

In fact, on closer inspection it’s pretty remarkable/hilarious/unnerving (delete according to personal bias) how much the January rally has been powered by, well, absolute trash.

Read more here.