After the spike in volatility in August, markets returned to a semblance of stability in September, but this masked some big underlying shifts across and within asset classes. Most notable was a sharp reversal early in the month of bond yields, which until then had trended inexorably lower throughout 2019: the yield on 10 year US Treasuries moved from below 1.5% at the beginning of the month to 1.9% within a matter of days. Somewhat more positive economic data and an apparent thawing of trade war rhetoric between the US and China proved to be the trigger for a reversal of some of the big bond moves seen in August, and risk appetite picked up.

The nervousness which had been creeping into markets during July intensified in August, with growing fears of a more broadly based global economic slowdown than the manufacturing contraction evidenced in the past 9 months. Equities fell sharply across the board, with the largest falls in the most economically exposed sectors and financials, the latter suffering from the dramatic shift down in interest rate expectations in recent weeks. In contrast, safe-haven government bond markets rose sharply, taking yields in many cases to new all-time lows. In the same vein, industrial commodity prices fell sharply, with the key iron ore price falling by 24% in the month, whereas precious metals rose; gold was up 7.5% in August, taking its rise this year to 19%, while silver did some catching up with gold, rising 13% in the month, bringing its rise this year in line with gold.

While most markets extended their gains in July and Wall Street reached new all-time highs, the moves were more muted than in the first half of the year, with some markets falling, notably in Asia, taking the Emerging Markets index down 1.2%. Gains that were made were modest, with the UK the biggest gainer in local currency terms, up 2.1%, but this was driven largely by a sharp fall in sterling which benefits the big listed offshore earners which dominate the UK stock market. Government bonds were generally firm as yields drifted lower while credit markets performed well with investment-grade corporate and high yield bonds each returning 0.6% and emerging market debt 0.8% in the month, taking a year to date returns for all 3 sectors into double digits.

The trade war-inspired sell-off in equity markets in May rapidly reversed in June, while yields on bonds continued the decline that started in late 2018, leaving nearly all asset classes in positive territory for the month. The US again led the way, returning 7.0% in June, taking the MSCI World index up 6.6%, while emerging markets participated fully in the rise, returning 6.2%. The notable laggard was Japan, up only 2.8%, while the UK was held back by Brexit worries, returning 4.0%. Bond markets also rallied strongly with most gaining 1-2% or in the case of emerging market bonds 4.1%.

To say we are living through extraordinary times is beyond dispute. The current economic expansion in the US is soon set to become the longest in history, employment growth in the US and elsewhere has been very strong, monetary policy across the developed world remains ultra-loose by any historical standard and yet inflation is still remarkably subdued. Indeed, recent falls in core inflation measures especially in the US have rattled investors and raised fears of weaker growth and tougher conditions for the corporate sector ahead, and in Europe and Japan of prolonged deflation. US inflation as measured by core PCE deflator has fallen to 1.6%, well below the Fed’s target of 2%, which has hardly been breached throughout the post crisis decade.

The extraordinary start to 2019 for global financial markets continued into April, with strong rises in most risk assets, led by equities, which have enjoyed their best start to a year in decades. All the major equity markets produced solid positive returns with developed equities again outperforming emerging markets, returning 3.5% versus 2.1%. US equities returned 4% in US dollar terms and hit another record high late in the month. The strong performance in the US was however exceeded by Europe, advancing 4.3% in euro terms, buoyed by signs that the sharp slowdown in growth across the eurozone was stabilising. Japan again underperformed, up 1.7% in April and 9.5% year-to-date, the latter making up half of the returns of the US (18%) and Europe (17.2%). Japan has been held back by slower growth this year, below 1% per annum, hurt by the slowdown in China and softness in global growth. The market’s underperformance leaves it attractively valued relative to other developed markets. China was the only market of note which slipped in April, however, this has followed a very strong first quarter performance, returning close to 30%.

Equity markets made further progress in March, despite a return to higher levels of volatility as concerns about the slowdown in global growth intensified. Developed market equities returned 1.3% over the month, taking the Q1 2019 return to 12.5% and recovering much of the ground lost in Q4 2018. US equities advanced 1.9%, supported by encouraging signs of progress in US-China trade talks and the increasingly accommodative stance of the Federal Reserve. In US dollar terms, Japanese equities underperformed the other major regions returning 0.6% while emerging markets returned 0.8%. Despite ongoing Brexit related uncertainty, the UK was a notable outperformer, up over 3% in sterling terms, with the UK’s big overseas earning companies boosted by weakness in the pound during the month.

The Federal Reserve inspired recovery in equity markets following the Q4 2018 sell-off, continued through February, albeit on a more mixed and less dramatic basis than January. European equities led the way with a return of 4.1% in euro terms, taking its recovery since the December low to 14%.

The US and Japanese markets broadly kept pace with Europe in February. US equities returned 3.1%, taking its recovery since the December low to 19% and leaving it only 4% off its all-time high. The major laggard was the UK, which returned 2.3% in February and 8% from its December low, held back by Brexit uncertainty and sterling strength, an important factor for UK stocks given that some 75% of listed company revenues are derived offshore. The MSCI World index returned 3% on the month and is up 17% from its December low.

What a difference a month makes. Following the despair of December, markets made one of their best ever starts to a new year, with virtually all asset classes and markets rising, some very sharply. Many equity markets managed to recover the ground lost in December.

The US led the way with a return of 8%, pulling the MSCI World index up by 7.8%. In this risk-on environment, emerging markets outperformed developed markets, up 8.8%, with Latin America again relatively strong, up 15%. While all markets were buoyant, the UK was the notable underperformer, up 3.7%. UK equities were held back by a strong pound which rallied 2.5% on a trade-weighted basis as fears of a no deal Brexit faded. All sectors of the markets rose, with
technology stocks leading the way after their particularly sharp falls in Q4 last year. The tech-heavy NASDAQ index was up 10% and the NY FANGs 13%, the latter having risen by 22% from the December 24th lows compared with a 15% rise in the S&P 500.

With broadening evidence of a global slowdown and both the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank continuing to tighten policy, investors took fright in December, resulting in steep falls across nearly all equity markets and a rush into safe haven assets. Having held up well during a difficult year for risk assets the key US market suffered a disastrous month, falling 9%, taking its return for the year into negative territory. The MSCI World index declined 8% for the month and 9% for the year, making this the worst year for markets since the financial crisis. Emerging markets also suffered but outperformed developed markets in December, the MSCI Emerging Markets index fell 3% in the month. That leaves emerging markets down 15% for the year but the nadir was reached in October and the big falls in markets in recent months have been concentrated in the US, Japan and Europe. Particularly steep falls came in the FAANGs stocks, which have fallen by around a third from their mid-year peaks.