Insights

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction.
The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Albert Einstein.

It has been a strange couple of weeks.

Since early May the main UK and European stock market indices and Japan have drifted sideways, Asia ex-Japan is down about 5%, and China down 12%. The US stock market is up 5%.  India is a surprise winner, up nearly 10%.  That’s it over the last 3 months, a bit of a party-pooper after the prior 6 months.

Since November 2020 we have been like a stuck record highlighting the opportunities and advances in the UK.  It isn’t us being parochial – far from it.

There is much which is positive and encouraging.

Last year was difficult, extreme, and tragic, in so many different ways. Yet, as observed in our recent monthly commentaries, there is growing investment confidence in the UK, albeit from very low levels.

At the end of the last blog (“UK World Beating – seriously!”) I promised that this month the US investment mania would be covered off.  Well, the US is an asylum which just keeps giving, as evidenced in just the last few days, and that is unlikely to change through the coming year.

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd”

Voltaire in 1767

Confidence is a vital, perhaps THE vital, driver of markets.  As I write, there is evidence that confidence in the UK stock market is rising.

We know what you’re thinking, and yes, Good Divorce Week is a real thing, created by family law firm Resolution.  The aim is to provide practical help, highlighting ways for separating parents to put their children’s needs first, and minimise conflict.

A COVID Quarantine Odyssey (Guest blog)

Julia Zhu, China Macro Analyst, Matthews Asia

Donald Trump did it his way.  Not with the style of Frank Sinatra – it was more Sex Pistols.

Here I try and make sense of some of what has happened this week, and what a Biden presidency might mean for investors.