Publications

- January 1, 2017: Vol. 11, Number 01

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Ruffled feathers: Markets don’t like uncertainty

by Richard Fleming

The markets — all markets; stock, bond, real estate, commodity, currency — saw plenty of excitement and uncertainty in 2016.

First Brexit then Donald Trump. It’s pantomime season and the old refrain comes to mind — “We can do anything better than you. Oh, no, you can’t. Oh, yes, we can.” And US voters did. Brexit was out-Brexited and we shall soon find out what the Trump Administration brings in terms of US policy change.

Actually, the markets handled the excitement and uncertainty quite well. The most notable effect of Brexit so far is the lower level of the pound against other major currencies, particularly the dollar and the euro, but even here global investors interested in UK residential and commercial property sniffed opportunity from the revised exchange rate and the willingness of sellers to conclude deals by dropping prices.

Most telling with both Brexit and US president-elect Trump’s victory was n

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