Posted on 10 Jun 2020
by Robert Merrifield
Head of Research - Wealth Management
The week to Tuesday’s close saw returns from equity markets diverge, with the UK top 100 companies index surrendering 0.7% of its recent gains and Europe’s Euronext 100 Index adding 0.7%, both in sharp contrast to the US S&P 500 Index which gained 4.1%, driven by strong momentum and by better than expected employment numbers.
These gains saw the US stock market close Tuesday 0.5% ahead for the year to date, a remarkable achievement given the scale of business interruption, drop in company profits and ongoing uncertainty around the speed of recovery in activity and employment.