Global equity markets appeared slightly less volatile last week with smaller daily movements and a general trend upwards.
There is a cautious optimism as many countries and US states start to slowly ease the lockdowns which at the moment is offsetting the poor economic data. In the United States, the latest jobs report confirmed that the US economy lost a record 20.5 million jobs in April amid sweeping lockdowns intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The unemployment rate surged to 14.7%, the highest since the Great Depression.
*up to 7 May 2020 due to VE Day bank holiday
In terms of £ Sterling, it closed the week (to 8 May), at 1.24 US Dollars, which was 0.8% lower than the figure at the end of the previous week (1 May).
Against the Euro, £ Sterling closed on 8 May at 1.14 Euros, which was 0.5% higher than the closing figure on 1 May.
There were no updated inflation figures, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH). It was 1.5% in March 2020 (this is March’s data which is reported in April). This was down from 1.7% in the previous month. The 12-month rate for the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate which excludes owner occupied housing costs and council tax was also 1.5% in March, also down from 1.7% in February.
There were no further changes to the Bank of England base rate last week following the two previous cuts in March. The current rate remains at 0.1%.
The Omnis Managed funds, Openwork Graphene Model Portfolios and Omnis Managed Portfolio Service provide you with a diversified asset allocation in line with your Attitude to Risk, investing in Developed Market Equities, such as UK, US, Europe and Asia Pacific as well as Emerging Market equities. Cautious and Balanced investors will also have significant holdings in UK and Global Bonds, as well as Alternative Strategies.
We believe this multi-asset approach aims to minimise global equity market falls in volatile periods.
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