April 2021: no turn in the sentiment (yet)

The overall picture in the financial markets in April 2021 mirrored that of the first quarter of 2021: good for equities, less so for bonds. Listed property stood out positively for a change last month.

A global economic upturn?

As in previous months, financial markets were driven by the prospect of a global economic upturn, supported on the one hand by higher COVID vaccination rates and on the other by large-scale fiscal stimulus from governments, especially in the US. Still, the latter aspect in particular is fuelling fears of inflation, which is putting pressure on bond prices. As in the first quarter of 2021, long-term interest rates went up in April, with government bonds recording a negative yield of 1.1%. While also impacting corporate bonds, the rise in interest rates was offset by good to very good corporate earnings. On balance, corporate bond prices remained flat. As in the first quarter, the riskier high yield corporate bonds performed relatively well, achieving a monthly yield of +0.6% in April.