On a positive note, I am pleased to announce that, following the latest quarterly review for the Prudential Prufund range, the predicted continuing growth rates will remain at their present levels, but there have been one-off increases in the plan values under the Investment Plan and ISA range as follows:
Investment Plan -Prufund Cautious Fund +2.04%, Prufund Growth Fund +2.69%
ISA -Prufund Cautious Fund +2.62%, Prufund Growth Fund +2.73%
This reflects the recovery in asset values which have been seen since the last review in May, which is a fair indication of some progress generally within investment funds.
Whilst this is indeed good news, I have to state that the UK is lagging quite markedly behind many other countries in terms of investor confidence and, whilst the US has achieved new ‘highs’ in terms of its sharemarket growth, even Europe has seen much better recovery than the UK so far, which is a worry and perhaps a sign of a lack of confidence in the tasks ahead.
I have been asked by several clients as to my thoughts with regard to the way that the government has handled the virus and also the Brexit negotiations so far and whilst I personally am not sufficiently well-versed to state with any certainty whether they have done a good or bad job, my answer is a simple one…the markets don’t lie!
So in short, good news for Prudential investors and other investors across the board, but there is clearly a long way to go in terms of the UK’s economic response to the pandemic and with Brexit still to navigate, we need some clear air in the next month or so, to be able to allow the government to regroup and, after it’s holidays (?), recommence its project of returning the UK economy to somewhere more in line with its global partners.