Brexit

We wake up this morning to the news that Boris Johnson and the Conservatives have won a commanding majority. Leaving aside the politics for now – at Nutmeg, we are politically neutral – what does this mean for your investments? Overall, we think it’s good news. 

Equity and bond markets produced solid gains in March. While the economic news continues to be relatively mixed, many central banks have signalled that they intend to take a sabbatical in 2019, holding interest rates steady through the year.

On 21st March Prime Minister, Theresa May, asked the EU for an Article 50 extension until June 30th. They declined, instead giving the UK two options.

The markets are always changing, shifting, evolving. That’s what the Nutmeg investment team finds fascinating about them, and why we offer our fully managed investment portfolios. But sometimes, events like Brexit cast a shadow of uncertainty across a longer period. We wanted to share how we plan for uncertain events and how we’re applying these principles to Brexit.

Despite the English love affair with property as an investment, we’ve long held the view that the liquidity mismatch between what’s promised by commercial property funds and that of their underlying holdings should ring alarm bells for investors. As the FCA requests commercial property funds provide them with daily liquidity updates and warnings from the Financial Ombudsmen Service, more so than ever before, investors should be cautious.

It’s been said before in the two and a half years since the Brexit Referendum, but this week was always going to be a crucial week in the process of the UK withdrawing from the European Union. Keep up to date with the latest developments, as they unfold.

November followed one of the worst months on record for equity markets. Although the damage wasn’t undone, there were some more positive signs toward the end of the month as attentions turn to 2019.

Since our October investor update, we’ve seen some volatility in the markets. We wanted to give you another update, this time looking at what’s happened in the UK and what we think is behind this unsettled picture.

The next general election is now a mere seven weeks away. We believe the election pushes the balance of probability towards a smoother and perhaps even softer Brexit than before. Ironically, this is somewhat negative both for the FTSE 100 and UK government bonds.

Article 50 has been triggered and negotiations over Britain’s EU exit are set to start in earnest. Now that European officials will begin to openly discuss their bargaining positions, the pound is likely to be a lot more volatile.

Since the EU referendum result the future of the property market and mortgages in the UK has been up for debate. So how will Brexit affect mortgages?

We’ll be publishing regular updates to this blog as the economic story unfolds after the Brexit vote.