Do it yourself

  The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by 25bps to 3.75%-4%. The decision was taken by 10-2 vote, with one member voting for a 50bps cut and another voting against the cut. The Fed also announced that it would terminate the current process of the reduction of its asset purchases (quantitative tightening or QT) on 1 st December 2025. The Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, however, cautioned the market against expectations that the December rate cut was a “foregone conclusion,” saying that it is “far from it.” He cited that there is a “a growing chorus” among the Fed officials to “at least wait a cycle” before cutting again. Notably, after the September FOMC meeting, the Fed officials had indicated the probability of three cuts, including the one in December. Job risks prompt the cut, tariff inflation seen as one=time increase The FOMC decision to cut rate was primarily driven by the cooling job market. T...

  The benchmark Nifty 50 index has given almost no return in the past 12 months. Nifty Smallcap 100 Index is down over 13% and Nifty Midcap 100 index is down about 2.5% over the same period. Adjusted for dividends and inflation, the real returns would be worse. On a comparable basis, the benchmark S&P 500 index of US yielded a negative return of ~15%; Stoxx500 of benchmark index for Euro Area returned negative 12% and Hang Seng, benchmark for Hong Kong market, returned a negative yield of ~30% over the same period. This is a popular set of statistics that is used by market participants like advisors, portfolio managers, and wealth managers etc., to advance arguments in support of their past performance and future prospects of investments made now. Investors use this set of statistics in a variety of ways. For example— ·           Investors following a relative return strategy may find comfort in the fact that their portfolios have pe...