SUMMARY OF QUARTERLY ECONOMIC AND INVESTMENT UPDATE CONFERENCE CALL

During the third quarter of 2024, there were a few political and economic developments that have a material bearing on the outlook for the world economy and financial markets.  For instance, President Biden was replaced by Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the upcoming US election and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won an effective majority in the UK.  Meanwhile, there were further signs of political instability in continental Europe and the weakness of the Chinese economy has led to a raft of stimulus measures announced by the Chinese authorities.

Overall stock market returns for UK investors were unremarkable during the quarter, with the World Index returning just 0.3% in sterling terms.  There were however some features worth highlighting: the US dollar weakened, reflecting the well-flagged reduction in US interest rates, there was a rebound in the share prices of Chinese businesses following the announcement of stimulus plans, and there was some market volatility at the start of August as some hedge funds unwound a number of popular positions, which markedly boosted the Japanese yen and the Japanese stock market.

The IT and communications sectors were among the weakest performing industries during the quarter, as was healthcare and energy, while utilities were the best performers.  Despite some waning optimism over the AI story in recent months, Technology and Communication Services remain the strongest performing sectors in 2024.

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