CHARTBOOK Market Comment

The war involving Iran and the disruption to transit in the Strait of Hormuz have lifted energy prices, complicated central bank decision-making and reintroduced a stagflationary risk into the outlook.

Major AI companies continue to grow at an extraordinary pace.

Markets enter May facing a more complex and less forgiving macro backdrop. The dominant near-term risk is the Middle East conflict and the resulting disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Global markets face an increasingly volatile backdrop as the conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran has escalated into a full-scale regional war, disrupting global energy markets and rattling investor confidence.

Global markets entered 2026 with a complex backdrop: resilient but slowing economic growth, elevated policy uncertainty, and a meaningful shift in the relative performance of U.S. versus international equities.

2026 began with geopolitics related volatility, as the World Economic Forum brought world leaders together.

Recent market performance has raised questions about whether certain areas, particularly AI-related stocks, may be experiencing heightened optimism.

The Bank of Canada and U.S. Federal Reserve both delivered rate cuts, but diverging tones and talk of artificial intelligence, are shaping investor sentiment.

Jackson Hole Shifts the Fed’s Focus At this year’s Jackson Hole conference, Fed Chair Jay Powell surprised markets with a clear change in tone. After months of prioritizing inflation, the Fed may now be turning its attention to the labour market

U.S. Jobs Report Falls Short of Expectations The August 1st U.S. jobs report showed non-farm payrolls rising by just 73,000, well below the expected 110,000. Revisions to prior months further