December market update – global equities ended 2020 in a positive fashion

Head of Multi-asset Funds Ben Seager-Scott and Senior Research Analyst Louie French give their commentary on what happened in the markets over the month of December 2020

Published on 19 Jan 20211 minute read

Global equity markets ended 2020 at record highs, supported by news of the post-Brexit trade deal, fresh Covid-19 stimulus in the US and hopes that the vaccine roll-out would help end the latest spike in cases.

In this edition

Against this backdrop, Asian and Emerging Market equities outperformed developed equity markets over the month, with the latest economic data highlighting a pick-up in activity.
The risk-on sentiment was reflected across asset class returns, with oil prices continuing to rally, while the more defensive government bonds were the main laggards over the month.
Government bonds and gold delivered positive returns overall in 2020, highlighting the economic uncertainty resulting from the pandemic and subsequent policy responses.

View market commentary

We hope you have found this update helpful. Please do get in touch on 020 7189 9999 if you have any queries or would like more information.