Stockmarkets are “flying in the dark”

Fund managers remain bullish on equities, but nobody really knows what will happen in the stockmarkets.

Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo © JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Trump and Pompeo are considering reimposing tariffs on Chinese goods © Getty
(Image credit: Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo © JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Are we heading for “Trade War 2.0”? asks Robert Carnell of ING. US criticism of China’s role in the Covid-19 outbreak has reached a “crescendo”, with Donald Trump reportedly considering the reimposition of tariffs. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said there is “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory. A rising stockmarket may have persuaded the White House that it is safe to start tariff sabre-rattling once more.

Meanwhile, global markets enjoyed a very profitable April. America’s S&P 500 gained 13%, its biggest one-month gain in 33 years. British blue-chips were unfazed by a wave of dividend cuts. The FTSE 100 entered a technical bull market last week (defined as a 20% rise)after rallying 22% from its March lows.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.