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Please see below for this week’s market update from Blackfinch Asset Management – received at lunchtime today.  

Blackfinch Group – Monday Market Update

In the ever changing world that we live in, we recognise the importance
of regular and current communication. This weekly news update from our
Multi-Asset Portfolio Managers provides you with a short summary of events
around the world which we hope you will find useful. 

Issue 6 | 1st September, 2020

UK COMMENTARY

• Speaking at the virtual Jackson Hole symposium, Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey, states that central banks are ‘not out of firepower by any means’.

• Retail footfall in the UK rose by 4.1% from the previous week according to data from market research company Springboard. Retail parks have been the most resilient with numbers down only 10.6% from 2019 levels, whereas shopping centres and high streets have been hit harder, down 32.4% and 39.1% respectively.

• The Financial Conduct Authority announces that the option of a three-month mortgage holiday will end on the 31st October.

US COMMENTARY

• Sunday 23rd saw the US report 34,600 new cases of COVID-19, down 17.8% from the number reported a week earlier.

• Progress appeared to be made in US/China trade talks, as officials continued discussions. Improvements are reportedly being made on key issues such as an increase in number of US products purchased by China, intellectual property rights, and a reduction of tariffs levied by the US.

• Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, spoke at the Jackson Hole symposium, announcing a new monetary policy framework based upon average inflation targeting. Powell stated that should ‘excessive inflationary pressures’ build, the central bank would ‘not hesitate to act’.

• US gross-domestic product (GDP) was revised up from an annualised rate of -32.9% to -31.7% for the second quarter of the year.

EUROPE COMMENTARY

• Germany’s GDP reading for the second-quarter 2020 was revised upwards from -10.1% to -9.7%.

ASIA COMMENTARY

• Long-serving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned due to ill-health. At eight years in office he is the country’s longest serving Prime Minister. He will remain in office until a successor is chosen by the Liberal Democratic Party.

COVID-19 COMMENTARY

• President Trump announces that his administration granted emergency use authorisation for COVID-19 treatment using blood plasma, although some medical authorities suggest that the data required to support the use of the treatment is still lacking.

• News from the US also suggests that President Trump is attempting to fast-track approval for the vaccine currently in development by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, with reports suggesting that approval could be granted before the presidential election in November.

• Cambridge University receives a £1.9mln from the UK government and plans to start clinical trials of its vaccine in autumn, or early next year. Representatives from the university claim that their approach will not only act as a vaccine against COVID-19, but is aimed at protecting humans from other related coronaviruses.

These articles are useful in providing a short summary of events from around the world over the past week.

Please continue to check back for our regular blog posts and updates.


Charlotte Ennis


01/09/2020