To think this time last year many people predicted 2021 couldn't get any worse than 2020. Little did they know capital markets were about to endure a wild year punctuated by an insurrection in Washington DC, a meme stock rally, two new COVID-19 variants, crypto's ascent, a bond market revolt, and a growing split with China.
on Monday and is up 522 per cent in five years, with Facebook, Alphabet, and Amazon all hitting new highs in 2021.In the US the internet companies that dominate society and sharemarket returns grew more powerful, but not in China. For bankers blindsided by cryptocurrencies’ rise, the key policy response is fee-free, real-time settlement systems for fiat transactions like Australia’s national payments platform , Korea’s Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute , or Scandinavia’s Project 27.
This extraordinary turn of events showed how little faith capital markets had in RBA policy and its cash rate guidance.