If the old adage of ‘sell in May and go away’ is to hold in 2026, then it really needs to say ‘sell at the end of May’ because equities posted another bumper month of returns. Animal spirits are alive and kicking and IPO fervour is keeping risk assets on the front foot. We’ll take that. All this whilst the US and Iran continue their posturing around the Strait of Hormuz – seemingly closer to a deal (which then doesn’t get delivered) – and of course the conflict in Ukraine which is now over four years in with both sides taking huge casualties. It is estimated that more than 1,000 Russian soldiers are dying every day as the increasingly sophisticated Ukrainian drone attacks cripple both the Russian front and penetrate infrastructure deep into Russian territory. The world was also once again reminded that humanity’s greatest enemy (if not itself) might be something we can’t even see; a virus. Passengers aboard a Dutch cruise ship, the MV Hondius, sailing from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde, fell ill with hantavirus resulting in several fatalities. Around the same time an Ebola epidemic broke out the Democratic Republic of Congo. Whilst it has spread rapidly there and into some neighbouring countries, there appears to be limited wider international threat at this time.
