Friday has flown around again, super-duper quickly it feels. I hope you have all had a wonderful week and have enjoyed this superb summer weather. And in our usual flourish to underline the week, welcome to this week’s News, Views and Truths.
And what a week it has been. Not particularly in news-worthy pieces, but the market itself.
To recap, year to date has been nothing short of a cracker. Equities across the board are up significantly from the falls in 2018. The FTSE 100 is up 15.88% and the US continues to knock it cleanly out of the park with a phenomenal 22.31%.
Yet what has really confounded the talking heads is the performance of bonds.
Clients of Three Counties have recently received our latest research note recommending a particular switch in our investment portfolios, pertaining, in particular, an increase to our bond allocation. Many will suggest this is a contrarian move and on the face of it, I agree. That is, however, if I ignore basic common sense. Which I don’t.
What was very interesting this week, was the rise in values across all asset classes. Equities up, bond prices up. Portfolios up. The sun was shining, England beat New Zealand, I got sunburnt. As in the words of Mr Loaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”
And genuinely this is where we are in markets. Trade will be light for the summer due to holidays and so the expectation is for this to continue without too much resistance.
However, this could well be the calm before the storm; Halloween 2019 could be a frightful time for markets (see what I did there) with the potential for a no-deal Brexit being larger than ever before. But while the sun is shining and markets are good, keep on keeping on.
And on the topic of sunshine, a number of you may be venturing on holiday soon. So, for the summer, if any of you are reading the blog in sunnier climates, send me a picture and you will be included in this blog. This week, our photo comes from the village of Casares in Andalucia, courtesy of Alan and Janet Gibson, making me super jealous! Let’s see if we can get some more in for next week.
And what a great way to end this week’s piece, dovetailing naturally with our usual playlist. Have a great weekend and I shall see you all next week!