What is in store for global markets?

Alex Savvides, senior fund manager of the JOHCM UK Dynamic fund, looks at how recent events have impacted on stocks, sectors and the global economy.

It is always worth remembering how quickly life in the stock market can change. Markets started the year strongly, with the FTSE All-Share Index reaching its highest level since May 2008 in early February. Since then, however, investors have been reeling from the shock of unexpected developments, namely political unrest across North Africa and the Middle East and subsequent foreign military intervention in Libya coupled with the terrible Japanese natural disasters and resulting nuclear crisis. As if this were not disconcerting enough, existing concerns over European sovereign debt have r...