David Jane: Markets need a story

It is fascinating how financial markets seem only able to focus on a small number of issues at a time. We call this the market narrative - the story the market is fixating on at any moment in time. It is also interesting how the narrative that explains past events can change. One example is last year's market weakness and recent recovery. At the time, most of the talk surrounded the trade dispute with China and its expected impact on economic activity and inflation. As the year progressed, the sell-off hastened, culminating in a particularly weak December and changes in European, US and ...