Interest rate sensitivity persists into the new year

During the last few weeks, the prospect of rising interest rate expectations continued to grip markets, as the soft landing/rapid disinflation thesis was tested. Tight labour markets in the US have firmed the case for tighter monetary policy and in that sense, it was perhaps not surprising to see a continuation of the dominant trends of 2022 where interest-rate-sensitive tech stocks took the brunt of the selling while value and ex-US stocks were more resilient.