Half-year market outlook: The key global themes investors should watch for

Fed moves, polarised politics and a "tech cold war"

Investors began 2019 cheering the global rally in risk assets that followed a dramatic late-2018 market plunge.

The tough Q4 caused the US Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates despite a relatively strong US economy, aligning the Fed more closely with other major central banks that are still keeping rates low. However, as 2019 progressed, the markets turned volatile in the face of a fragmented economic environment with multiple pain points including the disruptive fire of the US-China trade war, which is turning into a "tech cold war" that threatens to disrupt global supply chains. Europe is still vulnerable to Brexit uncertainty, and recent parliamentary election results may slow the ...