A Week of Rollercoasters and Government Intervention
Just over a week ago, Boris and Trump seemed to be taking a relaxed approach to tackling the threat of the coronavirus. Since then we have been told all pubs, restaurants, gyms and schools must close and up to 20,000 troops have been placed on standby as part of a ‘Covid support force’. The government has increased its fiscal support against the virus to over £350bn and has now said it will pay up to 80% of staff wages for 3 months for those employees unable to work due to the coronavirus pandemic...
Market Update: Oil Crash Fuels Sell Off
While many of us spent the weekend dealing with shortages in everyday essentials in our supermarkets in the wake of COVID-19 fears, the financial community woke up this morning to another, different – albeit slightly more familiar type of fear; an oil price war...
Market Update: Coronavirus & the Impact on Global Markets
After a number of weeks where the markets has largely ignored the possible impacts of the Coronavirus, this week has seen a strong sell off as investors begin to digest the disruption that the COVID-19 virus may cause to global economic activity. The declines experienced this week are of course concerning, as it remains extremely difficult to predict the future impact COVID-19 will have on global growth and the global population.
Market Review January 2020
China grabbed the headlines again in January, but this time not for trade. On 31st December, the Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organisation of an outbreak of the Coronavirus in Wuhan City and in doing so, relegated the trade war and the World Economic Forum in Davos to mere sideshows throughout January...
Market Review December 2019
Global equity markets enjoyed a Santa rally in December as optimism returned to the global trade outlook, policies from central banks remained supportive and investors took the view that ultra-low interest rates would remain in place for longer...
Market Review November 2019
Equities continued to rally in November – a relatively consistent feature of markets in 2019, despite the multitude of geopolitical risks that investors have faced this year...
Market Review October 2019
Global stock markets continued to march on in October, with the US market posting a series of new all-time highs amid several positive catalysts including a US interest rate cut, positive news flow around US-China trade negotiations, and a raft of upbeat corporate results. Tensions between the US and China appeared to be mellowing with commentary suggesting that both nations were looking to roll back tariffs on traded goods...
Market Review September 2019
There was a good feeling sweeping through the equity markets in September as most of the major indices returned positive numbers. There were no spectacular rises – Japan and South Korea led the way as both markets gained 5% in the month, and a couple of markets barely moved at all, but the news was overwhelmingly positive...
Market Review August 2019
August is usually quite a quiet month; stuck in the middle of the period that journalists often call “silly season” - a quiet period when there isn’t much to report so there’s more coverage of lighter, perhaps more frivolous stories. Not this year...
Market Review July 2019
After an exceptionally strong start to the year, financial markets paused for breath in July, with most asset classes delivering muted returns. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) lowered US interest rates for the first time in 11 years, and the European Central Bank (ECB) gave strong hints that an easing package is on the way...
Market Review June 2019
During June, we have seen much stronger than expected employment numbers in the US, and positive industrial production data from Europe, signalling that the global economy is perhaps in better health than suggested by the negative long-term bond yields in many parts of the western world...
Market Review May 2019
For much of this year, equity markets have enjoyed a healthy climb, assisted by a dovish tone from central banks, as well as the possibility of a trade deal between the US and China. As we entered May, the S&P 500 was at an all-time high. However, just six days into the month, investors were tested by the announcement that the US would be moving ahead with tariff increases on US imports from China...
Market Review April 2019
Markets continued to climb the proverbial wall of worry over April as the S&P 500 was back into record-setting mode, moving past its previous all-time high set back in October 2018...
Market Review March 2019
As Q1 2019 came to a close, we can reflect on a quarter which saw equity markets rebound from the sell-off seen late last year. Most major regions delivered positive returns for the first three months of 2019 with the US in particular recapturing much of the decline experienced in the run-up to Christmas.
Market Review February 2019
February was another month when all the important news seemed to happen in the last week of the month.President Trump met with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for a second time, only for the talks to break down as the US refused North Korea’s demands for sanctions relief...
Market Review January 2019: New Year New Markets…
Despite a rocky start over fears of a slowdown in China, world stock markets enjoyed a good month as all major markets were up in January. The positive momentum experienced at the beginning of 2019 is a much needed change of sentiment for the markets which despite the continued global growth expectation (as shown below) was held down by a cloud of negative investor sentiment for much of 2018...
Market Review December 2018
What were your expectations for December? A quiet wind down to Christmas perhaps? Everyone leaving their offices early, attending various Christmas parties and not much happening in the second half of the month? Nothing could be further from the truth, December was one of the most eventful months of the year...
Market Review November 2018
November was another unconvincing month for the equity markets with increased volatility as political uncertainty continued to test the markets. With the month coming to a close there were also some signs that the trade war tensions between the US and China might at least be thawing...
Market Review October 2018
October once again proved to be a difficult month for this aging bull market with the S&P 500 recording 16 down days throughout the month, equalling its worst month run since April 1970...
Market Review September 2018
This article was originally intended as a review of Q3 2018, however, given the market unrest over the past week and the potentially unsettling headlines that have been written, we will start this article with a summary of recent events and our view on the economy as it stands today...