Introduction Welcome to the March Market Commentary: as you will see below, February was a good month for world stock markets with virtually all the major markets moving in the right direction. It was also the month which saw the rollouts of various vaccines accelerate in many countries. As we write on the morning of …
Introduction 2020 has been a year like no other, and yet – as we will see below – the majority of world stock markets have enjoyed a good year. It was also a good year for Joe Biden, who defeated Donald Trump in November’s Presidential election, and for supporters of Brexit. Finally, some 4½ years …
Introduction Is the end of November a time to celebrate? All the stock markets we cover in the Bulletin made significant gains in the month; the UK’s second national lockdown ends this week and, as we write, Christmas is a little over three weeks away. Or is the glass half-empty? We’re going to come out …
Introduction On Wednesday, November 25th Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his Spending Review for next year to the House of Commons. In the absence of an Autumn Budget, the statement to the Commons set out the Government’s spending commitments for 2021/22. The Chancellor had announced some time ago that there would not be a formal Budget …
As the UK is set to depart from the frameworks of the EU, there is concern amidst London’s biggest share trading venues surrounding the topic of where they may be able to buy and sell European stocks and where they may not. The Dilemma In order for trading to continue as normal, the EU would …
Introduction The end of October brought plenty of bad news for Western economies as scientists stood in front of graphs and talked of ‘inexorable rises’ and ‘exponential increases.’ Unsurprisingly, stock markets duly took note. We report on 12 major stock markets and only two, India and Hong Kong, were up in October, with all the …
Introduction September was a difficult month for world stock markets. It was one of those rare months when none of the markets we report on managed to gain any ground as fears of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a global sell-off in shares. It was also another month of bickering as tensions …
In December 2019, the Conservatives won an 80 seat majority in the General Election and three months later, new Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his first Budget. But by then there was a large cloud on the horizon – the outbreak of Covid-19. The Chancellor used his Budget speech in March to present a raft of …
Introduction Today (23rd September) marks exactly six months since the UK went into lockdown. On Monday, 23rd March we started social distancing, millions of people were furloughed and, for millions more, working from home became the ‘new normal’. Six months on and the UK is gradually getting back to work. Or is it? We started …
Introduction August used to be known as the ‘silly season’ – a phrase coined by the Times in 1861 to describe the lack of news in August and early September when parliament was in recess. Well, there was plenty of news in August 2020. With coronavirus and its effects, the continuing squabbles over Brexit, the …
