Summary

• Monetary policy remains very loose, and indications are that policies will remain accommodative.
• The FTSE All-World High dividend Index climbed 1.7%, fund global income peer group 1.5% and the Global Equity Income portfolio returned 0.5%.

August was yet another positive month for global equity markets, with several indices again close to reaching all-time highs. Monetary policy remains very loose which tends to drive markets higher.

The FTSE All-World Index climbed 2.5%. At the Jackson Hole conference Jerome Powell, the US Federal Reserve’s chairman, continued his mantra that inflation is transitory.

Financial markets are hence being primed to believe that interest rates will remain low at least for the next year, and that an announcement of an announcement of a gradual reduction in asset purchases will come at the next Federal Reserve’s meeting.

The three best contributors in the fund were Microsoft, JP Morgan and Admiral. The portfolio’s worst performers were Samsung, Lloyds Bank and Unilever.