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Issue 8, 14th September 2020

Please see below for the latest Blackfinch Group Monday Market Update:  

UK COMMENTARY

  • House prices rose 1.6% in August from July’s level according to the Halifax House Price Index. The annual increase in house price accelerated to 5.2% from July’s 3.8%, hitting its highest level since 2016.
  • Reports suggest that the UK is willing to walk away from Brexit negotiations in mid-October if a free trade agreement hasn’t been agreed upon.
  • A week of Brexit talks conclude with the EU telling Britain that it should urgently scrap a plan to break the divorce treaty, but Boris Johnson’s government have refused and continued with a draft law that could collapse four years of negotiations.
  • A rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the UK brings fears of a second wave, forcing the government to reimpose some restrictions over social distancing. Daily cases have risen to close to 3,000, from c.1,000 at the end of August.
  • The British Retail Consortium’s figures report that year-on-year growth in retail sales rose 3.9% in August, but city centre shops continue to struggle.
  • UK gross domestic product (GDP) rose for the third month in a row in July, up 6.6%, although this is still 11.8% below January’s level.
  • A report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research forecasts that the UK economy will emerge from recession at the end of the third quarter.

US COMMENTARY

  • Comments from Donald Trump that he may seek to ‘decouple the US economy from China’ suggest that the trade war between the two nations is far from over.
  • The US revokes visas for over 1,000 Chinese students on grounds of ‘national security’.
  • Initial jobless claims for the week are an exact repeat of the previous week’s number of 884,000. Continuing jobless claims rose to 13.39mln, above analyst expectations of 12.92mln.
  • Once again mutual agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans fails to be reached over details of a further COVID-19 support package.
  • US inflation rises by 0.4% in August, higher than forecast, but below the 0.6% rise seen in July.

EUROPE COMMENTARY

  • Insee, the national statistics institute of France, forecasts that the economy will contract by 9% this year, down from earlier predictions of an 11% drop.
  • EBC President Christine Lagarde announces that monetary policy remains unchanged, but that the bank has to carefully monitor the ‘negative pressure on prices’ that the Euro is exerting.

ASIA COMMENTARY

  • Revised GDP figures for Japan show that the economy shrunk by 28.1% in the second quarter of the year, worse than preliminary estimates released in mid-August.
  • China reports its largest jump in exports in 18 months, rising 9.5% in August compared to a year prior.

COVID-19 COMMENTARY

  • AstraZeneca confirmed that it had halted work on its COVID-19 vaccine, currently in development with Oxford University, after a ‘serious event’ during the trial process, reported to be a member of the clinical trial falling ill. However, trials officially restarted over the weekend.

These articles provide concise well-informed views that cover the whole of the market and are useful to maintain your up to date view of the markets globally.

Please keep reading our blogs regularly to give yourself a holistic and up to date view of the markets.

Keep safe and well,

Paul Green

14/09/2020