Q1 Market Digest 2024

Below are some key highlights from what happened in markets in Q1 2024:

• Q1 saw a divergence in equity and bond performance, as US economic strength pushed expectations for interest rate cuts to later in the year. Meanwhile, the UK officially entered recession (we discuss this further in our article “Supporting your clients through a UK recession”).

• Strong corporate earnings from the likes of Nvidia helped global equities record their best Q1 performance in 5 years, while bonds struggled on the prospect of fewer rate cuts. Given these markets, portfolios typically generated a positive return over the quarter, with higher risk ones outperforming lower risk ones over the period.

• Equities have also performed strongly over the past 12 months. On page 3 of this document, we provide market commentary to cover the past year.

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