Report on Q4 2017

Report on Q4 2017

4 Jan 2018

For the third successive quarter, the markets were mysteriously calm. Long term government bond yields barely stirred again. Bunds yielded 0.44% in September and they yield 0.44% today. The range, if that word applies, of gilts has been almost as tight. The UK stock markets slow-marched upwards in step in Q4: FTSE 100 +4.4%, FTSE 250 +4.5%, FTSE All Share +4.4%. It would seem that behind the blizzard of infantile stories about Bitcoin and Brexit, there were no events of substance.  The US has been much more exciting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 24% last year and by 10% in Q4 alone. Almost all the reporting in the UK mocks Donald Trump and strains to suggest that he is incompetent and dangerous. Given that Trump campaigned on the basis that “good people don’t go into government” it is, to put it mildly, understandable that many people are keen, not to say desperate, to see him fail. It may turn out to be the only major legislation that he ever delivers but the tax reform is certainly a thing and the stock market seems to like it. Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% is clearly beneficial for business and has been naturally portrayed as Trump helping out his true personal constituency but it is interesting that the balancing reduction of allowances is causing some huge short term hits in reported earnings ($5 billion for Goldman Sachs alone).    As soon as the bill was passed a raft of companies announced immediate $1000 cash bonuses for every employee. This looked suspiciously coordinated but I don’t suppose the 200,000 AT&T or 100,000 Comcast recipients mind. And the US consumer has been in celebratory mood with spending over the holiday period up by around 5%. The overall effect of the tax cuts has been reported as if they are a straight transfer of money from the poor to the rich. This is a question of whether you think that the lower taxes will promote economic growth (the classical capitalist view) or whether you think that they will merely drain government coffers (a more left wing attitude of course). The undeniable fact that individual...