WeeklyWatch – Mini budget sparks market tension

4 October 2022

Stock Take

Market jitters

The knock-on effect of the new UK government’s “Growth Plan” persisted last week, with the domestic sovereign bond market suffering exceptional volatility.

The declaration of significant tax cuts coupled with the previously announced energy subsidy package – which will both be funded through considerable borrowing – alarmed financial markets. The upshot was that government bond yields suddenly grew and, relative to other currencies at the beginning of the week, sterling fell rapidly.

This triggered an intervention by the Bank of England (BoE), so as to bring about stability. Mid-week, the BoE said it would do a U-turn on plans to start selling gilts – instead opting to begin buying them. This communication seemed to appease markets, and bond and currency markets had levelled off by the close of Friday.

While this may have calmed markets for the time-being, Azad Zangana, Senior European Economist and Strategist at Schroders, proposed that long-term questions remain:

“The Bank’s decision to step in to stabilise the gilts markets with purchases makes sense in the short term, but this is ultimately a credibility issue with fiscal policy. This is the wrong time to be acting as lender of last resort when it goes against the Bank’s primary objective of fighting inflation. It seems that the BoE will fight the market instead of hike rates aggressively as the market is demanding, resulting in a worse outlook for sterling.”

Every cloud

Such strife in the UK made equity markets all the more nervous, and they continued to drop last week. Mid and small-cap stocks were under pressure to ramp up sales, with the FTSE 250 declining by 4.5% while the larger FTSE 100 fell by 1.8%.

Indeed, this might prove problematic for UK equity investors in the short term, yet Benjamin Jones, Director of Macro Research at Invesco, said that it has left UK stocks more attractively valued than before. What’s more, given the volatile backdrop, there’s potentially a good opportunity for stock-picking in the UK.

“We remain optimistic on the outlook for UK equities going into the final quarter of the year and 2023, while recognising that uncertainties in the global economy and the geopolitical landscape make the range of possible outcomes wide.”

Interest rates round-up

Q2 GDP figures were modified favourably last week, seeing a slight growth from a small decline. The key take-away here is that this means the UK is not currently in a recession.

Jennifer McKeown, Head of Global Economics Service at Capital Economics, said that this may be a temporary situation, however, as global central bank actions were likely to push world economies into a recession. Capital Economics is now expecting UK interest rates to come to a head at 5%, US rates to peak at 4.5%-4.75%, and Eurozone rates to culminate at 3%.

Growth is set to be slowed by these higher rates, and Capital Economics now predicts that a US recession is all the more likely. Furthermore, it expects the Eurozone to experience a recession, and that fiscal stimulus in the UK will not impede a recession there, due to the adverse financial market response.

Given that investor confidence is weak and further interest rate rises are anticipated, global markets got into difficulties last week. The S&P 500 declined by 2.9% as it reverted to levels last seen in November 2020, with the technology-heavy NASDAQ index rounding off the week 2.7% lower. Moves in Europe were subdued compared to their global counterparts, with the MSCI Europe ex UK index retreating by 0.6%, in spite of the increased threat of recession.

In Asia, meanwhile, Chinese equities continued their recent downward course, as currency weakness and a progressively challenging economic outlook led to a 2.1% weekly drop in the Shanghai Composite.

Martin Hennecke, SJP’s Head of Asia Investment Advisory, says that even though markets are currently markedly down this year, counter-intuitively, this could be an opportunity for those willing to play the long game. He notes:

“Investor sentiment remains poor, while attractive valuations can be found in many places. There are still risks in the global economy, which will always be present in times of general pessimism. However, we should not forget that markets are always anticipatory by nature. Historically, some of the best investment opportunities often coincide with the greatest broad-based investor pessimism.

“In fact, a historical analysis of over 100 years of stock markets actually reveals a surprising negative correlation between economic growth and stock-market returns.”

Wealth Check

On the financial front, 2022 has been a challenging year for households in a range of income brackets. The cost of living has risen dramatically as inflation has surged and remains close to a 40-year high, household energy bills have shot up, and interest rates are on the rise. Not only that, but investment markets have been volatile – a further stress for anyone planning their financial future.

You may understandably feel somewhat helpless, but the value of financial advice really shines through in such difficult times.

Here at Wellesley, we can help you deal with a whole range of money-related issues. Ultimately, the goal is for you to reach a place of financial well-being, which can include:

• Making the most of your money on a day-to-day basis
• Being financially capable of dealing with the unexpected
• Feeling confident, empowered and knowledgeable
• Making smart use of debt, investments, insurance policies, tax reliefs and financial products to help you on your journey.

The importance of financial planning

You may well already have structures and routines in place to help you attain your goals, including budgeting, savings goals, monthly contributions to pensions or investments, and insurance or income-protection policies.

However, some of these best-laid plans can fall apart in the current environment – either because people’s incomes are so stretched that they struggle to keep up with commitments such as pension contributions or savings, or because people cease working towards their goals out of fear.

Financial advisers create personalised, actionable plans to help people reach their goals, based on realistic calculations of how much they’ll need. These can be tweaked and fine-tuned so that people are able to afford to save for retirement or keep up their financial commitments.

They can also be a sounding board for your financial concerns and accurately assess how you, as an individual, may be impacted by the current environment. Whether it’s the knock-on effect of inflation on your cash savings, how soaring interest rates align with your retirement plans, or how a recession may affect your business, a range of forecasts can be provided that are tailored to your circumstances.

Rest assured that your worst-case scenario may not, in fact, have the dire effect you fear. Whatever the situation, there will be a financial solution to manage it – and that’s where we can help.

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested. An investment in equities does not provide the security of capital associated with a deposit account with a bank or building society.

The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances.

The Last Word

“By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human”

– The Nobel Committee discuss the importance of Svante Pääbo’s research into cracking the genetic code of Neanderthals – for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The information contained is correct as at the date of the article.

Schroders and BlueBay are fund managers for St. James’s Place.

The information contained does not constitute investment advice and is not intended to state, indicate or imply that current or past results are indicative of future results or expectations. Where the opinions of third parties are offered, these may not necessarily reflect those of St. James’s Place.

Source: London Stock Exchange Group plc and its group undertakings (collectively, the “LSE Group”). ©LSE Group 2022. FTSE Russell is a trading name of certain of the LSE Group companies.

“FTSE Russell®” is a trademark of the relevant LSE Group companies and is used by any other LSE Group company under license. All rights in the FTSE Russell indexes or data vest in the relevant LSE Group company which owns the index or the data. Neither LSE Group nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the indexes or data and no party may rely on any indexes or data contained in this communication. No further distribution of data from the LSE Group is permitted without the relevant LSE Group company’s express written consent. The LSE Group does not promote, sponsor or endorse the content of this communication.

© S&P Dow Jones LLC 2022; all rights reserved.