August 2026 Global Markets Commentary Brent Joyce, CFA, Chief Investment Strategist New and Renewed Feuds "Jawboning (noun): the use of spoken persuasion” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary
July saw capital markets react to conflict, discord and feuds: all the way from war in the Middle East to the return of U.S. tariff threats and a family feud at the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Each situation elicited a generally negative response from the markets. However, in the grand scheme, the setbacks for stocks and bonds are modest and understandable.
Price action across global equity markets was mixed. Some markets that posted the strongest earlier-year returns (Japan, Nasdaq and emerging markets) briefly entered correction territory (down more than 10% from recent peak to trough). Nevertheless, they still top the charts for the year. In many markets, including the S&P 500 and S&P/TSX indices, declines from their peaks are merely mild, low-single-digit percentages, which is consistent with a healthy test rather than a breakdown.
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