Capital markets versus central banks – why investors ignore interest rate hikes

Frankfurt, Dusseldorf The stock market week actually delivered a worst-case scenario for many market participants: both the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have further increased key interest rates and, above all, have announced further interest rate hikes. In addition, the quarterly figures from the tech giants Apple, Alphabet and Amazon fell short of expectations. Nevertheless, the feared drop in prices did not occur.

Instead, markets interpreted statements by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and ECB Chair Christine Lagarde as suggesting that the Fed will cut rates soon and the ECB will slow the pace of rate hikes. This caused both stock and bond prices to rise significantly.