Where next for equities in a challenging month for markets?

WHERE NEXT FOR EQUITIES?

Chris Burvill, manager of the £863m Henderson Cautious Managed fund, gives his thoughts on market conditions and the outlook for the major asset classes following a trying month for investors.

“What is it about August?” asked George Bush senior, on the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1991. It was a good question, and one which has often perplexed politicians in the past. We could easily ask it now in the midst of the sharp market falls we are currently experiencing. It would be very tempting to talk apologetically about 'August effects', 'thin markets' and key decisionmakers not being around, but to do so, I think, would be to underestimate what is going on. Thin volumes or not, the FTSE fall of 15% since the beginning of August (as I write) represents real wealth lost and will ...