The bear market ends, so was that it?
After more than a decade of near uninterrupted growth, investors were shaken from their complacency in January of this year by a sudden and sustained fall in the market. In hindsight (always the ideal but unavailable investment tool) the reasons were obvious. Inflation was proving persistent – where previously it was believed to be “transitory”. Central banks had been too slow to act and were now desperately trying to regain the initiative. They were pushing interest rates up rapidly which impacted the expected future returns of many darlings of the stock market. Then Putin invaded Ukraine and sent further shockwaves through the economies of the world, as the cost of fuel and food rocketed upwards. Once a stock market index falls by 20% from its peak, it is described as being in a “Bear Market”. If it rises by 20% from the trough, then it is described as being in a “Bull Market”. Bear market conditions were swiftly registered by most major indices in the first quarter