10 December 2020
Monthly Market review – Download Article
Despite a positive start to the month, risk assets sold off as the month progressed, weighed down by the rapid rise in coronavirus cases across Europe and the US, and uncertainty ahead of the US Presidential election. The ‘fear’ index, the Vix, rose from 26 at the start of October to 38 at the end, the highest for over 4 months. Led by European markets, down over 5%, the MSCI World index returned -3.1%, with the US down 2.7%. In contrast, Asian markets performed relatively well, encouraged by the success of several major countries in the region, including China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, in containing the virus. China again outperformed, up over 5%, which in turn pulled the Asia ex Japan and Emerging Markets indices up by over 2% in the month and into positive territory for the year to date. Read More >
