Global Market Overview
After a strong end to last year, January saw a reversal in risk appetite with the news of an escalation in tension between the US and Iran and then latterly a novel strain of a flu-like virus rapidly taking hold in China and at the time of writing responsible for over 1000 deaths. With China as the epicentre of the outbreak it is not surprising that Asia and Emerging Mar...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for January 2020
Global Market Overview
Returns from global equities were strong again in December, rounding off a year in which all assets classes performed well, not only beating inflation but often generating double digit returns. The MSCI World index ended the year up 22.74%. In December the index rose 0.57% but this return was pared back by sterling’s strength versus the dollar. In local currency terms the...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for December 2019
Global Market Overview
Global equity markets continued to move higher in November. Trade negotiations between the US and China seem to have been constructive with no further escalation in tariffs. Developed market equities outperformed emerging market equities with the S&P 500 achieving the highest return. The best performing sub-market was the FTSE 250 which outperformed the FTSE 100 as ...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for March 2019
Global Market Overview
The appetite for riskier assets was evident again in February as investors focused on the easing tensions between the US and China. Advances in global equity indices were not quite as strong as they had been in January, but every region recorded a positive result in local currency terms. Strength in sterling meant that returns from Japanese and Emerging Market indices ...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for February 2019
Global Market Overview
The start to 2019 has been much more positive for investors than the end of 2018. Global equities made good gains in January, recovering some of the ground lost in the fourth quarter of last year. The key reason for this seems to have been a reversal in the US Federal Reserve’s policy towards interest rates, with an indication that any further increases would depend on...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for January 2019
Global Market Overview
Any hopes of a so-called Santa rally were short-lived in December with all major markets posting losses for the month. Despite November’s brief respite, the fourth quarter turned out to be the worst in the last seven years. Investors have lost confidence against a backdrop of rising US central bank interest rates, a sharp slowdown in Eurozone business confidence, weaker...
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RiverPeak Wealth Monthly Update for January 2018
Global Market Overview
Global markets ended a strong year with a traditional “Santa” rally in the UK which saw the two main UK indices achieve record highs for the second year in a row. The FTSE 100 rose 5.03% in December whilst the FTSE 250 (ex Investment Trusts) returned 4.39%. Over the year, the leading 100 companies, which, in aggregate, derive over 70% of their revenues from overseas, had ...
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