Fahad Hassan

2025 so far, has been turbulent for investors. The increased volatility could be attributed to the on-again, off-again tariffs being implemented by the US Government with little or no notice. But beneath it all, lies an old-fashioned 'growth scare'. The market is concerned that these tariffs will feed through into weaker economic growth, particularly in the United States. Our response to this challenge is relatively straightforward.

Rather than focus on the news headlines we focus on the data. Overall, we start from the position that it would be unusual for a recession to occur when interest rates are falling and where the labour market is close to full employment. But of course, we have never had a president quite like Donald Trump. In the context of this uncertainty, we are not making any immediate trades in portfolios but are continuing to wait, over the coming weeks, for the data to build.

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