September was another tough month in global stock markets, with turbulence abounding.
Investors continue to be worried about China and its economic policies, and these concerns have been compounded by the US authorities lacking the confidence to raise interest rates.
We’ve also had some very big shocks to single company stocks in September. Volkswagen being the most publicised example, losing an astonishing 42% during the month due to its emissions scandal. Here in the UK, the share price of large commodity producer Glencore also dropped by 37%.
Nutmeg portfolio performance
Medium risk portfolios lost between 2-3%, while our higher risk portfolios lost around 4% during September.
In the midst of all this turbulence, confidence is gradually improving. In the first few days of October we’ve seen a pretty good start, with highest risk portfolios gaining up to about 4%.
What about the wider market?
For most equity markets it was the worst quarter in four years, for some worst in eight years. For example, Latin American stocks lost 24%.
One of the big market disappointments over September was Japan. Stocks fell around 8% in the month, after doing much better than most markets during the summer.
Despite this fall we’re still upbeat about Japan, and hold a reasonable amount of exposure in our customers’ portfolios.
Changes to Nutmeg’s asset allocation
We’re not making any changes to portfolios at the moment. We do have a series of changes that we expect to make to the portfolios in the future, but market conditions are not yet right to do that yet. Our broader strategy and long-term outlook will remain the same.
About this update: This update was filmed on 7th October 2015 and covers figures for the full month of September 2015 unless otherwise stated. Data sources: Bloomberg and Macrobond.
Risk warning: As with all investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio with Nutmeg can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Past or future performance indicators are not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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Shaun Port
Shaun is the chief investment officer at Nutmeg. He has over 25 years’ experience developing and implementing investment strategies for clients ranging from central banks to pension schemes to charities and private individuals. Shaun holds a degree in Mathematical Economics from the University of Birmingham and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He can be found tweeting @ShaunPort.Other posts by Shaun Port