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Read moreMonday Musings 30/03/2020
I think that it is important to start this week by bringing you up to date with how I am dealing with the impact of the corona virus as far as Straight Talk is concerned. As you know I have always maintained a level of admin staffing that is unusually high for an IFA firm of our size. This was done in order to deliver the level of service I think our clients deserve. I do not need to remind you that we go much further in this area than most IFA firms. Although in common with all small businesses our income has been impacted over the last month or so and new business will continue to be virtually non-existent for the next few months, I passionately feel that we should continue to deliver as much of a normal service as possible. To that end I intend to keep all the crew on board. Most of you have spoken to Sara, Lori or Caroline and they will continue to be available. We do have another super team member, our apprentice Lauren who provides great back up to all of us.
We tried to move our telephone system to our homes, BT said we could, but it transpires that our routers are the wrong ones to work with the BT VOIP system. All calls to the office are now being redirected to my mobile, this means that sometimes I will be on another call so won’t be able to pick yours up. If you leave a message, I will call you back as soon as possible. If the matter is something that the admin team need to deal with, I will pass the information to them. I will be using my home landline for outgoing calls to free up the mobile for your calls. Mails will be dealt with in the usual way. The email addresses are info@straighttalkfinancial.co.uk,david@straighttalkfinancial.co.uk caroline@straighttalkfinancial.co.uk and lori@straighttalkfinancial.co.uk.
MOST IMP0RTANT.
If you would like to have a “face to face” conversation with me send me an email and I will send you an invitation for a zoom meeting. This is an online facility which enable us to see each other and chart as if we were in the same room
It seems unlikely that you are not fully aware of the way the markets have been performing as the information is being published in almost every form of media. I would say that although all the markets had a good week following the $2Trillion stimulus package that Trump announced they are still well down over the year to date. A frantic rally during the week saw the US market climb more than 20% in 3 days, the best 3 day run since the 1930s, to enter what the Wall Street Journal termed a new bull market. I think it’s a bit early for such optimism, although with so much cheap money sloshing around the world there are suggestions the recovery could be quicker than many are currently expecting.
So, to the markets.
January 2nd | March 30th | ||
FTSE 100 | 7604 | 5421 | Down 28.7% |
DOW JONES | 28584 | 21636 | Down 24.3% |
NASDAQ | 8875 | 7502 | Down 15.47% |
S&P 500 | 3261 | 2541 | Down 22.08% |
NIKKEI | 23648 | 18999 | Down 19.7% |
HANG SENG | 28543 | 23093 | Down 19.09% |
SHANGHAI | 3079 | 2747 | Down 10.78% |
CAC 40 | 6037 | 4329 | Down 28.3% |
DAX | 13381 | 9612 | Down 28.2% |
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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