Weekly Market Summary.

The past week has been another where the day-to-day index moves have been dizzying, because, as we have previously said, equity markets hate uncertainty (and as the coronavirus outbreak is a big uncertainty), they are currently trading on every news headline.

Global equity markets rose this week on the back of more evidence that the global economy is improving.

As Marie Curie once said “I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy”, and that is also true for investing as equity markets have this week reminded us that the path for global equities is never smooth or easy

Global equity markets rose strongly over the week after strong US employment data indicated, as we have been forecasting, that the coronavirus outbreak is a transient issue and as a result the global recovery will be V-shaped.

As you can see from the accompanying table, global equity markets ended the week (and the month) higher as markets finally appear to be appreciating that the equity market and economic crash we saw in February and March isn’t like any of its predecessors, simply because the coronavirus outbreak, while horrible, is only a transient issue

As you can see from the accompanying table, with the exception of Hong Kong and China, global equity markets rose strongly over the week – which more than recouped the previous week’s losses and clearly highlights the benefits of taking a long-term approach to investing.

It has been a volatile week for global equity markets. Although the overall tone was very much glass half empty, most equity markets headed into this weekend in a much more upbeat mood, as markets started to focus on the reopening of more countries and improving US consumer sentiment.

The major global equity markets ended the week in positive territory despite more economic data showing the economic damage being brought about by the coronavirus outbreak.

It was a week of two-halves for global equity markets.

Global equity markets this week bounced between gains and losses, before finishing the week slightly lower, as volatility and uncertainty was again the key theme given the mixed coronavirus headlines; the oil price, economic data; and US Q1 company earnings.