You couldn’t make it up… and I’m not referring to anything emanating out of British or American politics. I’m referring to our delay at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday due to ducks on the runway. Well, it has been wet!
Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal. I’m here on an annual golf trip with a group of guys from Broadstone Golf Club. It won’t be party, party, more like an episode from Last of the Summer Wine! Three rounds of golf and back on Saturday – good fun.
The upshot is that I’m delivering a slightly shorter version this week. However, post the 0.5% interest rate drop in the US, there isn’t a great deal of poignant news unfolding. Markets have responded well, with both equities and bonds enjoying this new paradigm. With interest rates falling yet again there has been particular interest in European bonds with a significant increase in demand. This period certainly favours multi-index investing.
On this week’s agenda:
- Market data
- European bonds attract interest
- Chinese equities surge
- Consumer confidence weakens in the UK
- Summary
Market data
Equity markets have continued their positive momentum and even technology stocks and emerging markets have joined the party. Over the last month, the main indices have performed as follows:
| FTSE 100 | -0.73% |
| FTSE 250 | -0.72% |
| Eurostoxx 600 | 1.3% |
| Hang Seng | 14.36% |
| SSE Composite Index | 7.95% (Shanghai) |
| Nifty Fifty | 4.79% |
| Nikkei 225 | 4.02% |
| S&P 500 | 2.29% |
| Dow Jones | 2.27% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2.62% |
Monthly returns are as of 8.00 am Friday 27th October (not including fees)
European bonds attract interest
An article in Investment Week states that European fixed income funds saw the biggest share of net inflows in August, attracting €26.9 billion over the month. According to data from Morningstar, fixed income strategies gathered the lion’s share of total net inflows (€40.2 billion) for the period. Conversely, euro government bonds were hit by the highest level of net outflows for the month.
Continues…
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Risk warning
Please Note: This communication should not be read as giving specific advice regarding your personal circumstances. This would only be given following detailed assessment of your individual needs. The value of investments may fall as well as rise; you may get back less than invested. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns.