Good morning everyone, who saw this coming?
Having listened in amazement to the PM’s speech last night, I thought that I should try and dig for a little more detail and, to my amazement, found that there really isn’t any as yet. I am sure that we will see some variations to the announcement in the next day or so, now that the British public has asked the questions that government should have asked themselves.
Whatever our views, it is good to see that there is apparently a ‘sea-change‘ progression in terms of containing the virus and allowing the country to return to work in some form or other; whether it is all a bit too soon, time will tell, but I can only assume that the scientists and government have a firm view on this, as they allow people to be able to travel to anywhere, distance no object and seemingly for any reason, as long as social distancing is respected (as echoed by the Secretary of State this morning).
So how have the investment markets reacted so far today?
Well positively it would seem, as the UK FTSE share Index has opened up 1%. I suspect that it will be a long start to the week though, as businesses try to digest the 50-page document being released tomorrow, which will further outline what they must do in order to return to operations.
There is no doubting the fact that a return to work is a great thing, as long as it is controlled carefully and protects those who are at work; we need to get the economy back on track. I expect this to be the start of what will be a defining period for investment markets and businesses, as we gauge people’s appetite for products and services in the weeks’ and months ahead, whilst keeping one eye on the threat of a return of this virus before a suitable vaccination is found.
I hope that the announcement is viewed with common sense and that people remain mindful of the basic need to protect our health and I also hope to be able to say a little more as the days unfold, after investment markets have fully digested what has just happened.