“This year didn’t have many “Cinderella Stories” in March’s NCAA tournament, with perhaps only Michigan State fitting that description. This may have upset many speculative pool brackets whose picks would have been hoping for low seed picks to achieve far greater success than would reasonably have been expected. Sometimes no surprise is also a surprise.
Similarly, there was no madness in the markets. There were not many surprising movements except that equities kept bouncing back and rates remain stubbornly low. The U.S continues to be the only bright spot in an otherwise slow global economy. Given the new hostilities in Yemen, the lack of improvement in Russian relations, and the clock ticking for the dire financial conditions in both Greece and Ukraine, the 10-year Treasury remains below 2.0 percent while global equities rallied on the belief that the Fed is not going to increase interest rates anytime soon.
The market also received a hint that the Chinese may also pursue a monetary policy stimulus or easing policy. Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, has a hot seat to chair and is not able to offer a clear view of when and if the Fed rates are going higher this year. “