10th February 2020

January 31st has come and gone, and we have now officially left the European Union. Little will change in the interim whilst we remain in the transition period, or what it should be known as: the negotiation period. This has already brought whispers from Brussels, Whitehall, and even America. There has been talk from within Brussels regarding concessions for EU fisherman if the UK’s financial institutions want access to the European markets. This will be the first of many challenges for Boris to navigate through in the coming year.

Globally, it seems that the potential conflict with Iran and the US has been forgotten, temporarily, which one would have thought would stabilise markets. However, Coronavirus has initiated a drop in the Asian markets, stalling the manufacturing powerhouse of China who did not need this, experiencing their worst economic growth since 1990. This in turn has affected global markets, as seen by the drop in indices such as the S&P, FTSE, and the DAX, undoing the warming between Trump and Xi Jinping of recent months. The virus has also hindered the Middle East, with oil prices dropping further as confidence in global growth stutters.

Markets have continued to be volatile, hindered by the erratic mood of Trump and now fears of a worldwide epidemic. Returns had looked promising until this deadly outbreak, however this means that within our diversified portfolios we are delivering gains in some areas, while experiencing losses in others. This diversification protects our investment portfolios, mitigating against events such as the Coronavirus outbreak. Out of adversity comes opportunities which may enhance performance over the long term, so we remain focused as always on the macro picture.