As we reach the end of the first ‘working’ week of the year, we find ourselves (inevtiably) within a further national lockdown, depressing as it is on the face of it, there is much light ahead it seems.
Whilst measures have been taken to control the upsurge in virus contamination and to protect hospital resources (overcrowding is an issue which we see at this time every year due to viruses such as influenza), we can console ourselves with the fact that the UK authorities are now rolling out several forms of the Covid vaccine (and at a rapidly increasing pace, especially when compared with our European counterparts) and whilst it may take a couple of months to get to a stage where freedoms can be reintroduced, the economy can now start to see a way ahead.
Add to the mix the fact that we now have agreed terms for a Brexit deal (although I am sure we will hear much more on the benefits of that as we go forward) and also the certainty of a new US president (who will have a majority of one in terms of pushing agreeing changes within the senate), whilst we are in a bad place in terms of our present economy, there is a real opportunity to progress from here and at a rapid pace, as well as to right some of the wrongs which have taken place globally in the last year or so.
Given that economists and investment markets as a whole tend to work ahead of routine activity, whilst things are grim in terms of our day to day lives just now, from an investment perpective there is a lot of positive movement within asset groups, particularly UK shares which have risen by over 4% in the last month alone (and by a similar amount so far this week!)
So whilst I wish everyone a much better year ahead on so many fronts, I just wanted to add that, whilst I will continue with the blog updates, the message is one of positivity in investment terms and long may this continue!