Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 1 2022 (1 January – 31 March 2022) – Investments Rattled
The last couple of months of 2021 saw an uptick in volatility as the mood music in markets changed, which has continued into 2022. After years of both inflation and interest rates reducing and remaining very low, inflationary pressures surged and as a result there is upward pressure on interest rates to contain inflation. Inflation […]
Market Overview & Investment Outlook January 2022 – Difficult Start to 2022
The last 3 years have been excellent for global equities, the UK FTSE All-Share up by 25%, MSCI World up by over 50% and the US tech-laden NASDAQ up by 110%. This period includes the start of the COVID period in early 2020 when markets fell dramatically, the recovery in the second half of 2020 […]
Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 4 2021 (1 October – 31 December 2021) & 2022 Investment Outlook – Investments Deliver Strong Performance
2021 was another good year for investment markets, particularly for US equities which delivered another stellar performance. This impressive performance was driven primarily by the mega caps in the US which masked some lacklustre performance elsewhere amongst US equities. International equities also notched up impressive gains in continental Europe and the UK, whilst China and […]
Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 3 2021 (1 July – 30 September 2021) Equities Make Further Progress
Perhaps one of the clearest indicators that the world is returning to normal is that financial markets are worrying about lots of different things. To be fair, the summer of 2021 has given plenty of things to be worried about, whether that was the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Chinese government’s waves of market regulation, […]
Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 2 2021 (1 April – 30 June 2021) Equities Hit New Highs
The global economy has continued to recover strongly in the second quarter of 2021 as vaccination programmes have been accelerated and unprecedented financial support from governments and central banks has continued. In recent weeks this has resulted in a reduction in volatility and a relative calm in markets. Strong market performance has been based on […]
US Economy Shows Strong Recovery in Q1 2021
US GDP bounced 6.4% in Q1 2021, its largest first quarter rise since 1984 and beating estimates of 6.1%. GDP is now less than 1% lower than pre-pandemic. In addition, the US property market has rebounded strongly. The economic recovery can be attributed to strong consumer spending after the enormous fiscal stimulus of trillions of […]
Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 1 2021 (1 January – 31 March 2021) Equities Cap Best Year Since 1930s
The global economy is expected to rebound strongly in 2021 by 5.5% according to the IMF as vaccination programmes with continuing financial support from governments around the world bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, the year started brightly continuing the market growth of the second half of 2020. Indeed, the US equity market […]
Budget 3 March 2021 – Personal Finance Measures
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak delivered a Budget which is characterised as spend now and tax later, the aim being to stimulate and support the British economy. As expected, the furlough scheme has been extended to 30 September with employers being required to contribute from July as the economy re-opens. This currently supports around 4m workers. […]
Bond Market Volatility
The weather in March is known for its harshness and unpredictability, captured by the proverb: ‘In like a lion and out like a lamb.’ After nine months of strong equity market performance, bond yields surged last week leading to a spike in market volatility with consequences for both bonds and growth focused equities. The surge […]
Market Overview & Outlook Quarter 4 2020 (1 October – 31 December 2020) Roaring 20s Beckon
Global markets rallied an impressive 8% in the last three months of 2020 into a headwind of sterling appreciation, and notching up an overall gain for the year of 13% (MSCI World). The Santa rally in the lead up to Christmas duly arrived this year to soothe frayed nerves after a rollercoaster for much of […]