Financial markets

The existing geopolitical risks and the increasing slow-down of the global economy are expected to create a challenging environment in 2019 for the global stock and bond market. To what extent these risks have already been priced into the weak market development in 2018 remains to be determined overall. The end of the stimulation effects, such as the US tax reform and a more restrictive monetary policy in the USA, also place a burden on markets. The ECB is likely to pursue its present course of gradually normalizing their currently still expansive monetary policy. The termination of their net bond purchases as part of the asset purchase program (APP) is the first sign of this.