High time for a 'good event': Human optimism key to US market success

Deep Dive into US equities

US equities have been the stand-out performers of 2020, with the S&P 500 up more than 5% to 27 October 2020 and the Nasdaq 100 up nearly 32%. In contrast, the FTSE 100 has tumbled - more than 23% over this period.

What has driven this huge absolute and relative performance amid the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic response? The answer surely lies in the nature of said response. With huge swathes of workers operating from home and unable to go out, large-cap technology stocks were always going to be clear beneficiaries, and the US has the most well-known of them by far. But this acceleration of an already present secular trend does not explain the outperformance of the US market in its entirety.  SJP's Ralph: Three likely scenarios investors should factor in ahead of election day The Federal...