It was an exceptional month for global equity markets in November as three potential vaccines emerged to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. The FTSE 100 index gained 12.4% which was its best month since January 1989. Similarly, in the United States, the Dow Jones 30 was up 11.8% which was its best month since January 1987.
Monthly performance to end of November 2020
FTSE 100 (UK) +12.4%
Dow 30 (US) +11.8%
Euro Stoxx 50 (Europe) +18.1%
Nikkei 225 (Japan) +15.0%
In terms of currency, £ Sterling ended November at 1.33 US Dollars. This was 2.9% higher than the figure at the end of October.
Against the Euro, £ Sterling ended November at 1.12 Euros, which was 0.5% higher than the October closing figure.
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH), was 0.9% in October 2020 (this is October’s data which is reported in November). This was up from 0.7% in the previous month with clothing, food and furniture, furnishings and carpets making the largest upward contributions. The 12-month rate for the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate which excludes owner occupied housing costs and council tax was 0.7% in October, up from 0.5% in September.
There were no further changes to the Bank of England base rate last week following the two previous cuts in March. The current rate remains at 0.1%.
With the world continuing to fight coronavirus and seeing the number of cases rising again and tougher restrictions being imposed, global equity markets are likely to remain volatile. So, it is increasingly important to understand your attitude to risk, capacity for loss and investment objectives. At times like this, it is difficult to stay focused and ignore the fear but the benefits of investing in a well-diversified investment proposition in line with your Attitude to Risk are evident. The Omnis Managed funds, Openwork Graphene Model Portfolios and Omnis Managed Portfolio Service provide just that and you can see that the Cautious portfolios, in particular, have held up remarkably against the backdrop of global equity market falls.
Please note the performance figures in the table below for the FTSE 100 include dividends and may differ from the commentary above.