At the beginning of October, the tariffs Mr Trump hit China with finally had their effect on fund prices and values. To be honest, these tariffs had been in existence for a wee bit of time, so it wasn’t a surprise that they now hit home. What was a surprise was that the Dow Jones fell as well.

Admittedly. the Dow Jones fell because of people’s fears about interest rate rises, but there must have been an element of worry about global trade, which the USA plays a big part in. Personally, we think what Mr Trump is doing is wrong, and we reckon this will come back and bite him at some stage.

All of this however merely reinforces what we have said a few times now; that we reckon for the next few years, the world markets will be more unsettled and therefore more volatile. At the time of writing this article, we haven’t got a deal on Brexit agreed and through Parliament, Mr Trump is fighting with the Chinese, and we know we are in for a hard time when the current bull run finishes. The current run has gone for about 3–4 years more than it should have done; an end is inevitable, but we don’t know when.

These factors are over and above all ‘normal’ trading challenges, so as you can imagine, there is a lot going on at the moment to unsettle investments.

At MAP we will watch the markets carefully on our clients behalf, but there is no need at all for knee-jerk reactions. Everything will be planned and organised. The funds we put in our Recommended Fund Lists (RFL) are those with a reasonable amount of consistency, which is by far the best way to go.

There are no guarantees that this consistency will be maintained, but in using such funds and monitoring their ongoing performance, to ensure the consistency remains, there is in our eyes, no better approach to investing in the current climate.

If you would like to discuss any investments with Money Advice & Planning Ltd, please contact us today on 0345 241 1808 or e-mail us at enquiries@mapfinances.co.uk.

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