Equity strategy and market outlook – April 2019

In this month’s strategy piece, Alastair believes that given the recent improvement in survey data in the US and China, incoming economic data are likely to be supportive of global equity markets at current levels during Q219. Yet there is a distinction between support and progress. Investors will now need to look to specific stock or sector calls to deliver outperformance. While retaining a neutral view on equities, we believe it is a good time to take profits on positions that have performed strongly since the start of the year. In addition to supporting the economy, easier credit conditions and lower market volatility should also be conducive to increased equity issuance and M&A activity. For the UK, we would expect the current proposals for a meaningful delay to Brexit to facilitate increased corporate activity over coming quarters.

Download PDF