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THE WORLD AWAKENS

As we sit atop our prosperous peak, admiring the views of the fastest economic growth since 1984, the best start to a bull market, and the record-breaking quarter of earnings growth, it’s wise to remember that not too long ago we began our uphill journey from the depths of the COVID-19 ravine. Often, the best views come after the hardest climbs. So now it’s time to catch our breath and peer over the horizon at what’s to come as we begin our descent from this peak. However, just as the summit of one mountain can become the base of another, the investment landscape goes on indefinitely, which makes adhering to a disciplined investment strategy of the utmost importance.

End Of Summer, But Not The Year

Hopefully you enjoyed a good summer break. August was another positive month for many financial markets, with one pan-European (including the U.K.) index achieving a seventh consecutive advance. Whilst 2021 started with material concerns about COVID-19 challenges, limited vaccination numbers and widespread lockdowns, progress has been made on all fronts. No doubt the late August news that seven further countries have been added to the U.K.’s green travel rules, will further boost hopes that a return to previous norms are closer.

Summer Surprises

For most investors focused on the U.K., Europe and/or the United States, July was far from an unattractive month in all but a minority of equity sectors. This pleasingly allowed a further building of year-to-date returns. Meanwhile bond market yields generally tightened further. Although fixed income markets remain on average dull performers in 2021, performance has improved in recent months.

Investing Is Not a Trivial Pursuit®

Americans, bored in their COVID-induced ‘bubbles,’ turned to board games for fun last year, boosting sales 300%. They rolled the dice, drew the cards, and buffed the skills of cooperation, problem solving, emotional intelligence, and reflective logic — the same competencies critical to successful investment strategies. So, we couldn’t help looking back nostalgically to our favourite games — and probably yours — as we look forward to crafting a sustainable investment game plan.

Stay Optimistic

The fifth month of 2021 will not go down as an important month for global investors. Most equity and bond market investors made some positive – but relatively modest – gains during May. And whilst COVID-19 vaccination progress across many countries has been notable over recent weeks, the general economic outlook across the U.K., United States and Europe has recently improved. Certainly underlying confidence for the rest of this year and into 2022 has improved over recent weeks.

Now It’s May, Do You Go Away?

April was another interesting month, with gains across almost all global stock markets led by the United States, but closely followed by the U.K. and Europe. Whilst the former two were significantly aided by continued COVID-19 vaccine progress and associated national reopening, Europe has started to make some progress too.

Inflation The Dog That Barked In The Dark

Sixty years ago, Marshall Nirenberg and Henrich Matthaei began the process of cracking the genetic code. Thanks to their persistence and resilience, today’s scientists developed effective mRNA-based vaccines in record time – saving millions of lives from COVID-19. With the darkest days of the pandemic behind us, investors can also appreciate the resilience of the economy and financial markets and the hopeful prospect of brighter days ahead.

Market madness – Be selective, advises Paul Gavaghan of Raymond James

Whilst there are still pockets of great opportunity across the globe, the past few weeks have also seen crazy price rises of some stocks as investors have rushed to join the herds buying certain technology stocks indiscriminately. Given the backdrop of a Western World with low interest rates and a pandemic that is highly disrupting many sectors, the relatively less affected technology sector is an attractive place to park money. It seems many investors taken this view but have forgotten the importance of valuations. The herd buying has pushed prices up which then reaffirms investors reasoning so they buy more again and so on which spirals share prices upwards.

Which way next for markets?

After global markets stumbled to their worst quarter since 1987 in Q1, we have now seen a meaningful bounce in many equity markets from March lows and there are now good arguments for both sides which way they will turn next.

Ethical Investing – Bespoke portfolios tailored around you

At Raymond James, Ribble Valley we have a highly bespoke investment proposition and state of the art tools. This allows us to cater for clients’ ethical preferences, however specific they are. Many people only want to profit from companies with certain characteristics and they want to make sure that their views are reflected.

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