Market Summary Week Ending 04/12/2022

US markets continued their recent strong performance, after comments made by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell strongly suggested that the central bank is ready to slow its pace of interest rate hikes of 0.75% at December’s meeting (12th& 13th). This is off the back of reducing inflation figures reported within the US and to stave off the threat moving forward of a recession within the US economy through continued large interest rate increases.

This led to weekly gains of 0.2% for the Dow Jones, 2.1% for the Nasdaq and 1.1% for the S&P 500. For all three indexes, it was the first back-to-back weekly gains since October.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 closed slightly lower at the end of the trading week after a strong US monthly jobs report dented investor sentiment and added fuel to fears over rising inflation, as a result of these figures. The FTSE finished down around two points, or 0.03% on Friday for the week, however, it was a more positive outlook, with an overall gain of 0.9%.

Eyes over the next couple of weeks will be on both central banks for the UK & US for the reaction with Inflation CPI figures being released next week and the market’s reaction to the announcements made by both at their respective December meetings

Please note for this weekly summary, we focus on the major indices within the financial markets such as the FTSE 100 (UK) and the Dow Jones and NASDAQ (US) to provide a factual account of what has happened within a certain index. Performance figures quoted are factual from the previous week’s trading and this summary is for commentary purposes only.

The performance of these indices is not a representation of an individual fund or portfolio. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. You could get back less than you originally invested.