Balancing acts
Last week was a flat week for global stock values, but with a fair amount of dispersion. US returns were once again weighed down by tech, but the UK and Europe were up over 1% on Friday. The overall sluggish picture seems a strange reaction to supportive comments from US Federal Reserve chair Powell and a healthier than expected US economy, but markets are chewing on a few things.
Why investors look so much to the US
We sometimes get asked why we write so much about US stocks and the US economy. We are a UKbased investment manager, with significant investments in UK capital markets – and yet we talk much more about the US S&P 500 than the UK Large-Cap index. This might be a little confusing, and so we feel it is time we briefly explained why the US is so important for global investors – both in terms of economy and its capital markets.