Economic Review – April 2020
Our monthly economic review is intended to provide background to recent developments in
investment markets as well as to give an indication of how some key issues could impact in the future.
It is not intended that individual investment decisions should be taken based on this information; we are
always ready to discuss your individual requirements. We hope you will find this review to be of interest.
At the end of April, several major global markets
closed the month in positive territory. On the last
trading day of the month, Europe’s largest markets
lost most of the healthy gains accrued the previous
day, as cautious statements from economists and
central banks weighed on sentiment.
• The FTSE 100 surged back above the 6,000 mark
on Wednesday 29 April, buoyed by positive results
from a trial of antiviral drug remdesivir, but after
a tumultuous day of trading on the last day of the
month, the index closed on 5,901.21, a monthly gain
of 4.04%. On 30 April, energy price stocks slid as oil
major Royal Dutch Shell cut its dividend for the first
time since the end of the Second World War. The FTSE
250 gained 8.96% in the month to close on 16,454.46
and the AIM index closed the month up 18.77%. On
European markets, the Euro Stoxx gained 5.06% in
the month and in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 6.75%.SFFS Economic Review_Apr 20