10 January 2021
Monthly Market review – Download Article
Returns in 2020 of 16% from global developed world equities, 18% from emerging markets, and 10% from global government bonds (all in USD terms) mask the enormous turmoil wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and the scale of its economic, financial and human damage: an exogenous shock with global reach, not on radar screens a year ago and matched in the past 100 years only by world war. Behind the headline figures is a year of extraordinary volatility, with a sudden and dramatic collapse of markets as the pandemic spread rapidly beyond China (at 33 days, the fastest and shortest bear market in the past century), and an equally sudden recovery triggered by fiscal and monetary support on a scale never before seen.Read More >