Investment Commentary

Risk assets produced a mixed performance regionally in July. Helped by a weaker dollar, the S&P 500 gained 47 to 2,470 with the Dow Jones Industrial breaking through 22,000 in early August.  The FTSE100 rose 59 to 7,372 while there was an even stronger upward move by...

Equity markets in the US, Japan and Asia made further progress in June although European equities gave back some of their previous gains. For sterling-based investors, dollar weakness meant global returns were marginally negative. The broadly based S&P 500 gained 11...

After seven weeks of campaigning and two electioneering suspensions, due to the tragic Manchester and London terror attacks, the jury – in the form of the electorate – has delivered its verdict. After a tense night, the Conservative Party has emerged as the largest...

Financial markets consolidated in April with mixed results across regional equities and small positive returns for fixed interest - notably, for UK investors, index-linked gilts. While the S&P 500 rose 21 to 2,384 and the FTSEurofirst 16 to 1,519 - both reflecting...

The modest acceleration in global economic growth that started last autumn continued in the first quarter but - as buoyant sentiment measures are probably over-stating the upturn - real GDP growth estimates of 2.8% this year and 3.2% in 2018 are unchanged. Headline...

Financial assets made broad-based gains in February. The S&P 500 reached a new all-time high closing up 85 at 2,363 while the narrowly based Dow Jones gained nearly 5%. The FTSE100 and Eurofirst 300 indices rose similar amounts in local currency terms adding 164 and...

The flurry of populist policy initiatives following President Trump’s inauguration caught financial markets off guard and heightened uncertainty in key economic areas – including trade and taxation. Although US markets made further modest gains in January – the S&P...