Chart of the Week: Central bank stimulus shores up shares

Stock markets continue their ascent, with the month-long rise helping to erase the dramatic losses incurred earlier this year. But with economic data still dire, and more to come as a slew of first quarter GDP data is released later this week, much of this will be as a consequence of the extraordinary measures taken by central banks around the world. Even so, jitters remain, as evidenced by last week’s collapse in oil prices, with the US WTI benchmark reaching deeply negative territory for the first time in history. While the severity of the price drop was largely motived by a US-centric storage shortage, it highlights downside risks as global demand for the commodity dries up. This is likely to be painful for oil producers, with Russia’s central bank cutting lending rates sharply last week as it joined the easing rally.

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