Volatility in the tech sector continued this week, taking the froth out of some rich valuations. Investors are
grappling with the recent market turbulence, assessing whether the pullback for equities is a sign of market
health or the start of a larger drawdown that has further to go.

Our Chief Investment Officer Philip Smeaton, CFA spoke to Christian May at City AM this morning about how markets have behaved in recent months and the forces that could shape them over the rest of the year.

President Trump returned to the Oval Office on Wednesday, less than a week after contracting Coronavirus. He has since described his illness as “a blessing from God”, saying “I learned by really going to the school and this is the real school and this isn’t the read the book school. And I get it and I understand it”. Markets wait with baited breath to discover what he might do with this newfound self-declared wisdom.

In a world where traditional asset classes aren’t offering particularly attractive prospective returns, many argue that investment in alternative assets – such as private equity, high-yield bonds, renewable energy and even cryptocurrencies – has become essential to ensure sufficient portfolio diversification.

Later this week, the international financial services group, Almalia, will launch the world’s first active global equity Shariah compliant ETF. The Almalia Sanlam Active Shariah Global Equity UCITS ETF (the ETF) will launch via the HANetf platform and will list on the London Stock Exchange later this week.

President Trump has made multiple headlines this week, firstly on Sunday after the New York Times reported that the president paid $750 of income tax in both 2016 and 2017. The first presidential debate ahead of the November US election then descended into childish bickering and finally, confirmation came last night that the President and First Lady have both tested positive for Coronavirus.