Last week the sole focus for UK citizens and investors was the UK election. The Conservatives sealed a landslide victory, their largest in decades, which saw the Pound jump and the UK equity market rally; smaller and mid-sized companies were notable beneficiaries. In what has felt like an age of political stalemate, Boris will now have 100 days to deliver his budget; tax breaks for workers via a change in National Insurance have been promised and are expected to be confirmed in the first budget. The relationship the UK will have with Europe, however, is still unclear.
It was also a good week for US equity markets, which closed on a strong note following the announcement that President Trump would agree to a limited, dubbed Phase 1, trade deal with China, which would mean a hold on new tariffs that were due to take effect on 15th December. Most sectors rallied, the S&P 500 returned more than 0.5% while the Nasdaq edged up in excess of 0.75%.
As always, there is still much more information required around Brexit and the US-China trade negotiations, but markets typically like certainty and were generally more buoyant last week; with broad felt optimism we wish for a sustained Santa Claus rally.
It has been a great year for Beaufort Investment; we broke through £1bn in assets under management, we were the recipient of the coveted Money Marketing Best Discretionary Manager Award and our Active Model Portfolio service reached it’s 15-year anniversary. In terms of performance, our Model Portfolios performed well, despite a difficult global geopolitical backdrop.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients for their ongoing support of the Model Portfolios and the recently launched funds and wish you a happy festive period.
We will be taking a break from penning The World In A Week and will return on 6th January 2020.
