Cover story
[ 2018 IN REVIEW ]
2 / 3
For many investors the
double-digit gains they
have enjoyed across the
vast majority of asset
classes in recent years are
little more than a distant
memory
In FE Trustnet Magazine’s
traditional end-of-year review,
Holly Black attempts to find out
what happened to the extended
bull run everyone was taking for
granted 12 months ago
A damp
squib
A
ny investor who had been
hoping for a quiet year
in 2018 will have been
sorely disappointed. The
past 12 months have seen a trade
war between the US and China,
a currency crisis in Turkey, and
an ever-expanding list of Cabinet
resignations.
We have seen political and economic
strife across emerging markets, the
first company to reach a market
capitalisation of $1trn – closely
followed by the second company to
reach the milestone – and a sell-off
in the stock market, which seems to
have marked the beginning of the end
of the longest and most hated bull
run of all time.
FE TRUSTNET
The past 12 months have been full
of surprises and volatility; for many
investors, the double-digit gains
they have enjoyed across the vast
majority of asset classes in recent
years are little more than a distant
memory, with capital preservation
the new priority.
Quantitative tightening
Central bank monetary policy has
remained a dominant talking point
in markets over the past 10 years and
2018 was no different. But this year
the focus was on the winding down
of quantitative easing programmes as
banks started to raise interest rates –
very gradually in the case of the UK
and not so gradually in the US. The
European Central Bank is expected to
follow suit in 2019.
Jason Hollands, managing director
at Tilney Bestinvest, says: “This
has been a significant development
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