February has been a volatile month, mostly thanks to the sweeping and immediate impact of the new Trump administration’s policies, from aggressive trade tariffs to dramatic federal government restructuring and geopolitical interventions, including progress toward resolving the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza conflicts. The US has pivoted its security focus toward China,
January’s market saw volatility due to Trump’s aggressive tariff policies on imports from Mexico, Canada, China, and potentially the EU. While US growth remained strong early in the month, the emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI led to a sharp sell-off in tech stocks, particularly semiconductors like Nvidia, which lost $500bn
In December, financial markets experienced weakness across most asset classes and regions. As inflation proved slower to normalise than initially anticipated, major central banks adopted a cautious approach to policy, aiming to prevent inflation running out of control. This tempered market expectations regarding the pace and magnitude of future interest
For the second year in a row, global equities are on course for double-digit gains, far out-pacing returns from bond markets. So far this year, only gold of the major asset classes has outshone equities, with a gain of close to 30%. Within equities, the US has become all-dominant, driven
In October, the most notable development was a sharp rise in bond yields, reversing much of the decline seen in Q3. This resulted in a challenging month for bonds, which weighed on valuations across most asset classes—though gold was a notable exception. Much of this shift was attributed to what
After a volatile start, markets grew bullish in September as the long awaited first cut by the Federal Reserve came, and China delivered the surprise monetary and fiscal policy announcement that many had lost hope it would ever come. Sentiment is now strong, but gold and defensive equities once again