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Read moreMonday Musings 14/04/2020
Yes, I know its Tuesday Mike but I wrote most of this yesterday. It’s quite interesting to see how the markets are keen to grasp at any good news that is coming out at the moment. With the Boris back in the stable if not in the saddle, and better news from China all the main markets had a positive week with the FTSEE 100 up just short of 8% and the FTSEE250 ahead by 16.37%. All three of the US markets moved ahead with the DOW up by 12.67%.
One of the factors I have to think about when writing this weekly piece is “tone”. I do not think that I should be either to upbeat or downbeat, but realistic. The reality is that we are by no means out of the woods yet and volatility is still going to be with us for some time. In the USA unemployment has risen again in the week. The forecast in the UK is for record unemployment when the covid19 crisis has been and gone. The trick then is to take advantage of the current and medium-term volatility. Although it may seem to be hard hearted, we all owe it to ourselves to look after our financial future and this includes taking advantage of the current market volatility. I have mentioned before, a lot, the advantages of phased investment, that is rather than going full into a new investment spreading or phasing your investment. In simple terms this means that if you, for example, decide to invest in an ISA you should place the initial investment into a cash fund and then switch the investment into a range of equity funds over three to six months. This means that rather than buying at a fixed price you may well buy at lows over the phasing period. In turn this means that when the upturn comes-as it will- you will own more units in the range of funds and therefor gain far more. Please talk to me about this concept.
I am proud of the fact that unlike a lot of advisers Straight Talk Financial Planning is still talking to its clients exactly as it did when times were good. I cannot emphasize how important I believe it is for us to be there for our clients all the time. If you would like to have a face to face chat please do let me know and I will send you a zoom meeting invitation.
Before we move to the markets I should remind you that by now you will have had your Quarterly report. I hope that you will have realised that our portfolios have protected you from the extremes of the market movements.
January 2nd | April 14th | ||
FTSE 100 | 7604 | 5825 | Down 23.4% |
DOW JONES | 28584 | 23390 | Down 18.2% |
NASDAQ | 8875 | 8192 | Down 7.7% |
S&P 500 | 3261 | 2761 | Down 15.3% |
NIKKEI | 23648 | 19630 | Down 16.99% |
HANG SENG | 28543 | 24392 | Down 14.54% |
SHANGHAI | 3079 | 2827 | Down 8.18% |
CAC 40 | 6037 | 4515 | Down 25.21% |
DAX | 13381 | 10678 | Down 20.2% |
I had a strange encounter on Facebook this week (sounds silly, bear with me…). A new mum put a post up on a local group asking for help. She said.
Read moreAs I’m sure is the case for you, I’ve been watching the coverage of the Israel – Hamas war with horror. The loss of innocent civilian lives, the impact of.
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