Monthly Comments

In addition to what we all face right now in our everyday lives due to the Corona virus, we also see some major movements in the financial markets. The spread of virus in the coming weeks will be crucial for markets. Measures are being put in place to deal with the difficult financial situation. Central banks and governments around the world are in the midst of launching massive crisis packages to help businesses and individuals - something that will also support financial markets. Some sectors and industries will be affected for a long time due to lower demand and disruptions in production chains while others will return to normal capacity and see a normalized demand relatively soon. We therefore do not plan to exit the market. However, we evaluate our investments and make the changes we consider appropriate. Please do not hesitate to contact your relationship manager for further information.

In February, volatility returned to the financial markets. The big movements can mainly be explained by the outbreak of the Corona virus. After the markets dropped at the beginning of the month, they traded into positive territory as it appeared that China was in control of the spread of virus.

The new year started with a positive trend on the world's markets but moved into negative territory in the second half of the month. Brexit, the impeachment against President Trump and the attack on an Iranian military officer did not significantly affect the markets - rather, economic...

The last month of the year ended with rising stock markets, although they fell slightly during the last trading days. Progress in the US-China trade talks was one of the main reasons for the positive development – a Phase 1 agreement will probably be signed in mid-January. Although that is positive, it seems likely that the countries will continue their negotiations in years to come.

OMX30 traded marginally down in November, while European and US stock markets rose slightly. Positive GDP figures from the US and third quarter numbers from Germany had a positive impact. The US-China trade talks continued during the month where markets are hoping to reach a Phase 1 agreement by December 15th.

In October, more signs emerged that indicate a weaker global economy. Even so, markets continued in a positive trend. The strong stock market performance can be partly explained by progress in the China-US trade talks, third quarter results that lived up to expectations and further monetary easing where the Fed lowered the interest rate for the third time this year.

Although several indicators suggest a global economic slowdown, stock markets held up well during September - some markets even reached All Time High including the SAX index in Stockholm as well as our fund.

August started out with falling stock markets, the OMX30 lost over 6% up until the middle of the month. The negative sentiment could be partly explained by escalating trade tensions between China and the US, an increasing risk of a hard Brexit and a general economic turmoil where the German economy is in the centre of attention.

In July, US stock markets rose slightly, while Asian and European markets showed weaker performance. The trade negotiations between the US and China were resumed and then cancelled without any direct progress being made. Instead, the relation between the countries worsened which affected markets negatively.