Viewpoint – March 2017

The broad pattern of market performance since Trump’s election victory continued in February in a period notable for its particularly low volatility, with the Vix ‘fear’ index now at its lowest levels since the financial crisis. Equities, led by the US, significantly outperformed bonds again; global developed equities returned 2.8% in February compared with a return of 0.4% from global bonds, taking the year-to-date outperformance of equities to 3.9%.

With global growth continuing to show clear signs of acceleration, emerging markets, led by Asia and Latin America, again outperformed developed markets. So far this year they have returned 8.7%, which is 3.4% ahead of developed markets.