Welcome to our autumn newsletter. It feels a little strange to be writing about autumn, as the current warm spell we are enjoying feels more like the summer that we should have had!

 

The summer has been a time of uncertainty and significant turbulence in the markets – much of this stemmed from concerns over the ability of politicians in Europe to deal decisively with the Greek debt. This uncertainty has created a pessimistic environment as the press continues to focus on where the next crisis might come from. The key question for us of course is where do we go from here?

 

We do not believe that the world is going to crash – a solution in Europe already looks likely. The greatest danger, we feel, is that of a global recession. However, on the positive side, Asia and the Emerging World appear much healthier and the potential for growth remains. With this in mind, we believe that in general, shares are trading at attractive prices, gilts are expensive and while inflation may fall in the short term, we will have to live with much higher inflation than we have been accustomed to over the past decade or so.

 

So, our message is that we expect the ride to be bumpy, but it is often said that forewarned is forearmed. To be as well prepared as possible we should revisit the split between different assets classes and the level of risk we are comfortable with, but we should not be panicked into taking action unnecessarily.

 

On a more upbeat note, please note that the Addidi Xmas Party this year will be on Tuesday 6th December. An invitation will be sent out in early November, but please do pencil it in as we would love to see you. In the meantime, we wish you a colourful autumn – lets hope it really is a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Anna