Overall Market Backdrop, May – The equities rebound continued into May with steady gains across equity indices. – The VIX index of market volatility has declined by over 16% from the end of April but remains high at 27%. – Small Cap was the strongest performing factor for the second month with a return of […]
The coronavirus pandemic will have long term implications for all aspects of the residential housing market. As restrictions are gradually lifted, the sector is starting to operate again, albeit under social distancing measures. But with the Chancellor confirming that it is “very likely” that the UK is in a significant recession, consumer confidence will be […]
Introduction For the second month in a row, we went back to the previous month’s Commentary before we wrote a word. How did we leave April in this rapidly changing world? With the Prime Minister having just come out of hospital and having become the father of a baby boy. With plenty of bad news […]
Many workers have lost their jobs, accepted part-time hours or been put on furlough as a result of the economic disruption caused by COVID-19. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, British households will see a drop in their disposable income of £515 a month – that’s £14.2bn for the country overall. So […]
Social media and online platforms are full of misinformation and fake news at the best of times so in the midst of a pandemic, the problem only escalates. Conspiracy theories, fake cures and scams abound – myths that 5G causes coronavirus, that COVID-19 is a biochemical weapon released by China, or that drinking bleach can […]
The COVID-19 crisis will push the country into an unprecedented economic slump. Just how big the slump will be is currently unknown but experts’ predictions aren’t optimistic. One independent forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that the economy could shrink by a record 35% by June, in the case of a three […]
Introduction Right now, even a week seems a long time in the news agenda. Remembering the end of March, when we wrote our last Market Commentary, feels like looking back into a different era. Reflecting back, how did we leave March? With the US having overtaken China as the country with the most confirmed cases […]
Overall Market Backdrop, April – Equity markets worldwide had a month of strong positive returns. The S&P 500 had its best monthly return since 1987. – US oil futures prices tumbled into negative territory for the first time. – Small Cap was the strongest performing factor with a return of 11.56% (MSCI ACWI Small Cap). […]
Scandalous though it may sound, cyber-criminals are using the coronavirus crisis to prey on unsuspecting individuals. Security experts have said they have seen an increase in email scams over the last few weeks, as if the world pandemic wasn’t bad enough in itself. We’re drawing these to your attention not to scare you but to […]
March 2020 will long be remembered as a month when information overload was tested beyond imagination. Embattled investors had to deal, not only with an imminent threat to life against themselves and their families, but also with violent liquidity and price collapses across asset classes, including even long bonds and gold. Diversification seemed momentarily to […]