April 2023 Market Update

Overview

April was a quieter month than March from a news flow and market activity perspective. Lower energy prices resulted in falling inflation globally, although perhaps not as much as expected and there were indications that inflation may continue to be ‘stickier’ than hoped for.

Economic data pointed to underlying strength globally, although this masked an emerging divergence between the strength in services sectors and weakness in manufacturing sectors.

Earnings in the US were down, but better than expected. Markets generally drifted upwards over the month, but a stronger pound held back international equity returns a little for UK investors.

Full update below…