It’s now just over a month since our last Coronavirus article.

During that time, the virus has been declared a pandemic and we’ve continued to see stock market volatility.  Although the direction has been downwards over the last month, we are seeing moments of growth which is positive to see, especially over the past week. A lot of the short term volatility will depend on the news flow and how the UK and other governments act to beat the virus.

Looking forward

We hope that these new restrictions on movement will have a positive impact by slowing down the virus and reducing casualties.
 
As a team we have quickly adapted to working from home with no noticeable impact on our investment capability. We are still very much business as usual. True, setting up video communication was a challenge for yours truly at first, but all is now working brilliantly.  
 
As alluded to in the earlier article, fear of the unknown is embedded within the human psyche. It may have been disappointing, but not surprising, to evidence unnecessary panic buying in the stores, which perhaps reflects poorly on current society. Once we have beaten this virus, we may come out the other side a more connected and caring society.

Investment perspective

From an investment perspective, selling through fear, although fully understandable, is usually a bad idea. At Ovation, we appreciate that you may be concerned about your investments. Events may seem overwhelming, but please be assured that as your planners, we feel that nothing has fundamentally changed and that our long-term investment approach and structure remains fully appropriate at this testing time. If you wish to talk to us about your situation please do contact us.  

Bob Mills – Investment Manager

The value of an investment and the income from it could go down as well as up. The return at the end of the investment period is not guaranteed and you may get back less than you originally invested.