Both US and European equity markets opened on a positive note on Monday after reports emerged that Iran wanted to de-escalate conflicts with Israel. However, this sentiment soured throughout the week, and European stocks would ultimately finish in negative territory.

Markets opened the week on a positive note as US and Chinese representatives met in London on Monday to negotiate a trade deal.

In May, markets continued their recovery from April’s lows as consumer sentiment improved and trade tensions eased.

In April, markets were highly volatile, largely due to US President Trump’s Liberation Day announcement regarding global trade tariffs, which caused steep declines worldwide early in the month.

Last month, concerns over economic growth and the introduction of new tariffs had a significant impact on global financial markets. In this investment review, we look at how markets performed.

As we enter 2025, we look to maintain perspective and to balance the risks across respective asset classes.

As we enter 2024, we have a broadly balanced asset allocation stance, namely a neutral weighting in equities and a much-increased weighting in bonds. This follows a steady reduction in equity exposure throughout the last quarter of 2023.

As we look forward to 2023, we maintain a preference for equities over other asset classes. The prevailing market consensus is that inflation has now peaked, and that rates will therefore peak by the middle of 2023.