News & Insights

May saw a continuation of the rebound in equity markets from the April lows.

Confidence was boosted by the announcement of a temporary 90-day reduction in US-China tariffs and better than expected earnings announcements from the likes of Nvidia. The result was a gain of almost 6% in global equities when measured in US dollars. Investors with a bias towards growth were back in the ascendency, with global growth stocks outperforming their value counterparts by around 6 percentage points.

Government bond yields in the US and the UK continued to rise across the curve, with the downgrade of US government debt by Moody’s rating agency from Aaa to Aa1 reflecting growing concerns over budget deficits in these countries. High yield bond spreads tightened on both sides of the Atlantic, beneficiaries of the risk-on environment.

May is expected to have been a positive month for investors across all risk categories and currencies of the ARC Wealth Indices.