Topic: Investments

We write again following our update on Wednesday. You will no doubt have seen in the media reports of further stock market falls over the past few days and many markets are now in so called ‘correction’ territory (usually defined as a fall of 10% from a recent high point).

To say that we are delighted with how the portfolios have been coping in this environment would be an understatement. We have been very conservatively positioned for some time now in readiness for just this kind of event and our cautious stance is now proving to be well placed. As of the close of play yesterday, the FTSE 100 was down around 7.8% for the week with the S&P 500 down around 10%. By contrast, the Buckingham Gate Balanced Active Portfolio was down by around 3.6%, demonstrating the benefits of diversification.

It is worth mentioning that the media attention will focus almost exclusively on the stock market and tends not to cover the bond markets. In the past week while stock markets have been falling, many bond markets have seen record low yields, which means record high capital values in many cases. As this process has unfolded, the fixed interest portion of our portfolios have been seeing healthy gains.

Although periods like these are unsettling, they are an inevitable part of investing. Although we can’t say when the Coronavirus threat will subside, when markets recover they tend to do so quite quickly.

Jason Broome, the Investment Director at Square Mile has also provided the below update to give some context on events:

The expansion of the coronavirus outbreak is frightening but needs to be placed into perspective. So far, there have been 3,000 cases out of a population of 6,000,000,000 if we exclude China. There will be further cases, but the disease appears to be containable.  Some nations, including poor ones, have been quick to isolate those infected and nip their outbreak in the bud. Even China, with nearly 80,000 recorded cases, appears to be winning its battle as the number of new infections fall. For the moment, we have confidence that other nations such as South Korea and Italy will take the steps necessary to isolate the disease. Sadly, we are less sure about Iran where the authorities have been in denial. The country’s links to Afghanistan and Syria seem to leave a high probability that the virus will find a base in the Middle East (though the arrival of summer could stem the rate of infection). If established in the Middle East, outbreaks will continue to pop up around the world as a consequence.
 
The human tragedy aside, the economic implications of controlling the outbreak are severe. Supply chains will be disrupted as factories close, popular events are being cancelled and health services will come under increasing strain. Markets are falling and approaching a level that we believe provide a reasonable reflection of the economic costs of the outbreak. We have been running a cautious positioning in portfolios for some time and last year we took steps to add positions that should act as insurance policies if markets fell as they have now done. Our portfolios are suffering as the market falls, but our earlier action has helped moderate the damage.
 
Today, we formally convened to discuss whether we should take further action to protect the portfolios. Sadly, we lack a crystal ball to tell us exactly what will occur. We considered various options and concluded that markets will remain volatile but broadly reflect the economic costs of the outbreak as it now stands. The situation is very fluid. We agreed to make changes to some portfolios, but these are minor in impact and we will advise clients as normal once the details are worked out. We also need to be very alert to the possibility that markets will panic and overreact to the outbreak. This may present opportunities for us to redeploy some safe assets into higher yielding opportunities.

As always, we continue to monitor the situation constantly and will look to act in your best financial interests.

Please note that investments can fall as well as rise and any income generated by an investment can fluctuate over time.

As I sat down to my Christmas Dinner this year, I recall being quite surprised at how settled things seemed to be. Not just in my own little home on Christmas day, but across the country.

The decisive Conservative victory in the election gives us a more certain path for the future and regardless of your views on Brexit or politics in general, I have always argued that uncertainty is almost always worse than the outcome, even if you disagree with the outcome.

As we went into the Christmas holidays, it seemed nearly certain that we would officially leave the EU on 31st January 2020. Of course, this is merely the beginning, and the end of January will signal the beginning of (supposedly) 11 months of trade talks which are designed to culminate in a trade deal by the end of the year.

So, despite the slight uncertainty hanging over the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU, all seemed to be sorted. We had a stable government, Brexit was going to happen and even the US and China seemed to be getting to the bottom of their trade dispute.

It was as if the world knew we didn’t have anything to worry about…

Of course, what followed is the US strike on Iran and the subsequent retaliation, giving us a whole new geo-political issue to ponder over.

Now, my feelings about this issue are just the same as with any issue (from an investment standpoint anyway) – keep calm and carry on will always be the motto.

What this just goes to show though is that there will never, ever be a ‘good time’ to invest. All those people who were waiting until Brexit and the election sorted themselves out will still be waiting to see how the US / Iran situation pans out, all the while missing out on what has been one of the best periods in market history.

The old adage that time in the market is more important than timing the market could not be more important, especially given that this uncertain world seems to be the ‘new normal’ as I wrote about a few weeks ago.

October seems to have been a month of mixed messages. After four interest rate rises in 2018, the US Federal Reserve announced an interest rate cut to 1.50% (the third cut this year) citing a slowdown in the US economy, and concerns over trade wars and a global recession.

However, markets have generally been positive last month with risk assets generally outperforming perceived safe havens. The S&P 500 posted another all time high last month, and emerging market equities posted a return of 4.20% during October. Much of this was due to market confidence that trade war concerns were receding with the announcement of a Phase One trade deal between the US and China.

Political uncertainty in the UK has reduced as well with the prospect of a non deal Brexit now looking unlikely, and sterling has rallied against the dollar and euro, but as 70% of revenue from FTSE 100 companies is earned overseas, the improvement in the value of sterling has coincided with a fall in the FTSE 100 last month.

Boris Johnson finally got his wish of another General Election, and the prospect in 2020 of maybe a stable government and perhaps an orderly Brexit would go a long way to establish market confidence after years of political turmoil.