Sterling has a spring in its step (and so should you)

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

The “era of austerity is over,” the Chancellor proudly declared in his Autumn Budget on 29^th October 2018. In the increasingly labyrinthine world of British politics, a lot has changed since this bold pronouncement: the Government has been defeated on critical legislative votes by margins of historically significant proportions; the Prime Minister has survived a vote of confidence in her leadership; 16 ministers have resigned; and MPs from both Labour and the Tories have formed the breakaway “Independent Group.”

Needless to say, this has all occurred against a backdrop of profound uncertainty over the ultimate outcome of the negotiations over the UK’s departure from the European Union.

Given these extraordinary machinations, UK equity investors might reasonably have expected a bumpy ride, and to a certain extent, as has been the case for equity investors the world over, this is exactly what has transpired. Happily though, it has not all been in vain; on the day of the Autumn Budget, the FTSE 100 index traded at 7,026 points[1].