risk-on asset

Mr Martin said that risk-on assets such as equities have already seen the benefits of loose monetary policy, and commercial property could be next.

The history of financial bubbles and their subsequent deflation seem to favour the secular underperformance of risk-on assets.

Despite the recent attention-grabbing rally in risk-on assets, the S&P 500 has outperformed Bric equities for more than four years.

When one buys risk-on assets, therefore, one assumes that the deflation of the global credit bubble will subside and that credit will again expand.

The trouble is that commodities, however attractive as a risk-on asset, are ultimately subject to the broader dynamics of slow growth that the Fed is trying to combat.

When policymakers take actions to attempt to counteract the economic reality that bank balance sheets must contract (as the ECB has recently done), then risk-on assets outperform.

If risk-on assets are credit related assets, then it follows they should outperform when credit is expected to expand, and underperform when credit is expected to contract.

Haven currencies suffered on Thursday morning and risk-on assets bounced as hopes that US policy makers would act to bolster growth continued to build and China surprised markets with an interest rate cut.

Risk-on assets outperformed subsequent to the Federal Reserve’s attempts to stymie US financial sector consolidation, and they have been outperforming more recently as the European Central Bank made moves to thwart European bank consolidation.