Monday resembled ‘Liberation Day 2.0’ last week. US President Donald Trump pushed the 9th of July deadline for tariff pauses back to 1st August, while also adding a slew of new tariffs to go into effect on that date. 

On Friday, the S&P 500 completed its comeback, notching a new all-time high. The index has grown approximately 27% in local terms from its lowest point in early April.

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.

In October, global markets displayed a mix of resilience and caution, marked by significant volatility due to fluctuating economic indicators, writes Richard Temperley.

Last month was a busy month for global central banks as the US Federal Reserve implemented a 50-basis point rate cut, writes Richard Temperley.

August was an eventful month for investors. Early on, the release of disappointing US economic data, coupled with an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan, triggered a significant sell-off in global equity markets, writes Richard Temperley.

The Zurich Investment Outlook is produced twice yearly by the team at Zurich Investments, based in Dublin, Ireland. This publication provides an in-depth insight into our current thinking and positioning, and expands on the reasons behind our economic views to our clients and customers.

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.