Market Commentary April 2018

After a spectacular January rally, a brutal 10% correction, a 60% retracement and a subsequent retracement of the retracement, US equities are back to where they were five months ago. Investors may be tempted to paraphrase Shakespeare and treat market gyrations as “a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” However, this would be to dismiss the return of volatility which has been the key market feature since the last week of January. This has certainly impacted negatively on investor confidence and eliminated the greed factor prevalent at the turn of the year. However, it is equally clear that fear has not yet returned to any meaningful extent and that a tentative rebuilding of confidence can be established now that the first quarter is finally behind us.