Amanda Cooper

Well, we're certainly seeing a burst of euphoria across global financial markets today.

We're seeing stocks up.

up, crypto up, the dollar, which has acted as a safe haven over the last six, seven weeks, coming under pressure against a range of currencies.

Investors cling onto this idea that even with questions around how long the ceasefire can last,

how quickly normal traffic the Strait of Hormuz can resume.

The idea is that with energy prices coming down, that takes the pressure off the global central banks to raise rates quickly this year to combat a potentially damaging spike in inflation.

And indeed, we're seeing bond yields drop sharply as investors price out the possibility of a Fed rate hike this year and price back in the possibility of a cut at some point in 2026.

Good news for risk assets, good news for businesses, good news for homeowners, at least for now.

That seems to be the takeaway in the first sort of 12, 14 hours since the ceasefire has been announced.

That's right.

US inflation came in a little bit under expectations last month, which gave a little something to everybody in the markets, whether that was in stocks or in bonds.

We saw everything finish up on a fairly upbeat note at the end of last week.

And it's even had a bit of impact on expectations for the Fed.

It looks like markets are leaning more towards a likely cut in June rather than in July.

And there's even a little possibility of a third cut starting to get priced in for 2026.

In addition, with U.S.

markets shut, it's leaving investors with other things to look at.

We had a pretty grim read of equities.

fourth quarter Japanese GDP, which suddenly makes Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi's plans to spend big and cut some taxes look rather sensible.

She aims to revive the economy a little bit.