Once in a blue moon

‘once in a blue moon’ is a common expression used to describe an event that almost never or very rarely occurs. Such an event took place last Wednesday January 31st with the occurrence of a so called ‘super blue blood moon’ eclipse when a Super Moon, Blood Moon and Blue Moon all occurred at the same time. A lunar trifecta if you will. Individually the three aren't entirely rare but to have them all 3 happen at the same time is incredibly rare. To give you an idea how rare it actually is: it hasn’t happened since 1866 & it might take another 250 years before another 'super blue blood moon' is sighted. A super moon is not only a full moon but it’s also a full moon that is closest to earth making it bigger and brighter than ‘normal’ full Moons. And despite what one might think, a Blue moon has actually nothing to do with the Moon’s colour. A Moon is considered a “Blue Moon” when it’s the second full Moon in a calendar month. January began with a full Moon on the 1st, so the month will close out with one, too. Finally, the term “Blood Moon” is used to describe a total lunar eclipse, because it causes the Moon to turn a dark reddish colour.

Nothing ‘super blue blood’ rare however about the performance of global markets as this trading week was again marked by a continued rise in bond yields with the 10-year US Treasury yield climbing to a four year high of ≥2.7% triggered by this week’s decision by the Bank of Japan to scale back its monthly bond purchases and speculations that China might also slow its purchase of US bonds. Furthermore, the European Central Bank hinted that it could phase out its bond-buying program (currently at EUR 30 billion/month) faster than anticipated which sent European government bond yields higher. As a consequence, the 10-year German Bund yield surged above 0.70% with the 5 year German bond yield even tipping into positive territory for the 1st time since 2015. Besides the current bond market sell off, also some turmoil on the equity markets with global stocks experiencing the worst trading week since August. This trading week Ageas’s share decreased by 0.9% to EUR 42.84 with the Eurostoxx 50 & SXIP 600 European Insurance Index decreasing by respectively 3.4% & 1.6%. However, looking at the January performance, with the exception of UK’s FTSE 100 index, global equities actually had their best January performance since 2012: Ageas (+4.5%), BEL 20 (+3.4%), Eurostoxx 50 (+3.0%), SXIP 600 Insurance Index (+3.6%), Dow Jones (+5.8%) & Shanghai Composite (+5.3%).