A year of two halves: Will market extremes remain the 'new normal'?

The dramatic developments of 2020 continue. Chinese equities are nearly 15% ahead year-to-date while US equities are almost unchanged; has there been an unprecedented economic shock?

Growth stocks, turbo-charged by the tech leviathans have bettered value stocks by 44% just since the end of 2018. Having seen oil prices fall below zero several weeks ago, UK 5-year gilt yields are now negative while central banks are, according to one observer, set to buy $6trn of financial assets over the year ahead. Remarkable times. Beyond the central bank chequebook, help to propel equity markets higher has come from the improvement in a range of activity measures. Globally, economic data is currently outpacing forecasts by more than it has done since data started being recorded in ...