Markets were broadly buoyed by news of encouraging earnings reports, EU stimulus and successful phase one trials in the race towards a COVID-19 vaccine. In local currency, equities performed well (outside of Japan and Europe) as did bonds, particularly those with credit exposure. There were, however, signs of the virus re-emerging across developed markets, with a serious pick-up in cases and deaths in the US and a more modest up-tick in cases in the UK and mainland Europe. This has led to some temporary halting or reversing of broad re-opening measures and reintroduced the possibility for future monetary or fiscal stimulus from national authorities. Follow this link for more detail on events which transpired in July.

 

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