Global equity markets yesterday (Wednesday 22 April 2020) clawed back a large proportion of Tuesday’s oil-induced losses.
In the UK, the FTSE-100 yesterday rose 129.6 points, having fallen 171.8 on Tuesday, while in the US, the Dow Jones recovered 456.94 points of its previous day’s 631.56 point decline.
Equity market sentiment was helped as oil trading started to return to a semblance of normality, while Donald Trump’s Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, appeared optimistic about reopening the economy, saying that the US was “coming down the homestretch” as the outbreak was slowing.
Additionally, Georgia and Florida plan to reopen their economies in the coming days, while the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, outlined how New York will loosen restrictions.
For all the noise and negative news headlines, the FTSE-100 is currently down just 0.3% this week (as we write it is flat on the day at 5,770) – and serves as a great example of why we prefer to take a longer-term view, rather than trading the market, as a bell doesn’t simply ring at the top of the market indicating it is the best time to sell, or at the bottom, indicating it is the best time to buy the market. In fact, as we explained in detail on 19 March 2020 (please see here), there is clear evidence that time in the market is much more important as it results in better performance, than trying to time the market.
Looking ahead to today, our attention will be on Gerjan Vlieghe, a Bank of England policymaker, as he will be speaking (via a webcast) about monetary policy and the BoE’s balance sheet; and the weekly US jobless claims data, after 22m jobs were lost in the prior four weeks.
Investment Management Team