Well, that year dragged! It’s a year since the start of the pandemic took hold and the first of the now familiar lockdowns took effect. Panic was not an unfamiliar reaction, with the hoarding of toilet rolls, rice and pasta, to name a few. You might know that many global markets also took fright and for most, the bottom of the market occurred on 23 March 2020 as indices largely reached their maximum falls. Many global stock markets became undervalued by the falls (i.e., not a reflection of true values) and this has been reflected in the subsequent rises largely noted across the board.
As we would always maintain, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, and fund values can fall as well as rise. However, in these notes, I wanted to look at the situation a full year on (plus a bit) to see where we were and where we are now.
The figures noted below might be helpful and give an indication of progress in areas. With the outlook a lot brighter for global markets, confirmed recently by the IMF in their April 2021 outlook, (more can be found at their website at www.imf.org), it will be interesting to see what happens.
Since the bottom of the market at about 23 March last year, we’ve seen the following examples, using a range of indices to potentially demonstrate an overall view (approximate):
This is not a guide to future performance, but these are notable changes nonetheless. The last entry might be the one that you actually experience the most, when trying to fill up at the petrol pumps, especially now you can actually use your car! This might be reflected soon too in the inflation figures, which is a future concern to many economists at the current time.
Comments