Market Reflections

Due to the very poor development of the first quarter, I assumed that we should see a reprieve in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead, we had to experience another round of price drawdowns in all relevant asset classes. Interestingly, losses in the global government bond markets were also more pronounced in the second quarter than in the broadly diversified global equity markets. This is a very rare occurrence, as government bonds are primarily a portfolio stabiliser. Government bonds only move very strongly when there are unexpected changes in price levels. This is currently the case and hasn’t been seen since the 1970s.