The dawning of a new decade may have prompted you to reflect on the past 12 months, or look ahead and make plans for the coming months and years.
Market moves are notoriously difficult to forecast and based on 2019 alone, it’s true to say that developments in the market can often come when you least expect them.
This year, we’ve decided to take a look back at the events of 2019 in the form of a market review; setting out some of the most important factors that influenced the markets in 2019, along with a look ahead to what we may be able to expect in 2020.
Here is the first section of the report, along with a link to the full report.
We hope you find our report insightful. As ever, if you require any further information on the content covered, please contact us.
Investment Committee: 2019 in Review & Outlook for 2020
2019 Review
January 2019 was an uncertain time for financial markets. We entered the year having seen a prolonged & consistent sell-off in global stock markets in the final quarter of 2018. This was a reflection of the global economic environment at the time and perhaps to a greater extent, the changing policies of central banks.
In response to the Global Financial Crisis, in December 2008 the US Federal Reserve (Fed) cut interest rates to 0%. US interest rates began rising again at end of 2015, and in 2018 the new chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, quickened the pace to ‘normalisation’ by raising rates four times to a high of 2.50%.
Furthermore, in line with their intention to return to normalisation, in 2018 the Fed began to reverse the quantitative easing programme that has largely been in place since the Global Financial Crisis. This continued until the start of 2019.