Having spent much of 2019 worrying about the very real possibility of a global recession, investors are heading into the holiday period feeling slightly more relaxed about the outlook for next year. Interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and an easing of monetary policy around the world, appear to have seen off a full-blown recession in favour of a more palatable slowdown in growth.

This time last year it was hard to escape the prospect of a global recession. Twelve months later and we are looking forward to a recovery in global economic growth, thanks to progress in finding a US-China trade compromise, and the likelihood that President Trump will be economically supportive leading up to the presidential election in November.

Congratulations to Pieter Fourie, Head of Global Equities, for picking up an FE fundinfo Alpha Manager rating for a second year in a row.

In the wake of last Monday’s mass movement in global markets, prices have continued to plummet in response to the further announcement of Coronavirus-related news.

The world has been coming to terms with the implications of the coronavirus for some weeks now, but it was only towards the end of last month that we experienced the level of volatility we would expect in equity markets given a crisis of this scale.