The market is enjoying a decent start to the week so far
The "talk of the town" is the reopening of major economies - particularly in Europe - and that is helping to see risk fare better as the dollar gets shunned on the day.
Italy avoiding a ratings downgrade and the BOJ easing policy further are also helping but they are more secondary factors driving the moves that we are seeing today.
European equities are keeping higher, while US futures are up by over 1% as we start to move towards North American trading in a few hours.
Over to the bond market, Treasuries are also lower as we see 10-year yields up by 2 bps to 0.62% currently.
However, is this all but just a relief rally more than anything else?
I'm still leaning towards the notion that reopening of economies should not be confused with any quick return to normalcy in many countries.
If anything, this may just go to show how far we may be from any "normal" way of living considering the potential social behaviour changes involved.
The hope is that we may adjust to some new normal and that economies can start accelerating again. But the realisation that it potentially isn't going to be pretty - and it may be that way for a long time - could be the next thing that drags the market down eventually.
Investors can enjoy a bit of a temporary reprieve now but central bank focus and key earnings this week will highlight the risks in the market later on in the week.
For now, let's see how market sentiment develops but I still hold some doubts.
If you look at an asset where central bank and government stimulus are unable to do anything about, it is down by around 17% today. That should put things into perspective.
