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Equity markets finished the year on a strong note with most regions delivering double digit returns over the period and hitting all-time highs. This was achieved despite several potential headwinds including Trump’s tariff hikes, growing concerns about technology valuations and recent concerns of a potential Chinese slowdown.
Looking at December, the UK was a strong performer, returning +2.3%, bolstered by strong corporate earnings and the hope for further rate cuts, and finished the quarter as the best performing equity market…

As President Trump steps up his campaign to take “ownership” of Greenland, he took to Truth Social on Saturday to outline new tariffs that he is planning to impose on eight NATO allies, including the UK. Starting from 1 February 2026, Trump said he will put a 10% tariff on “any goods sent to the United States of America” by the eight countries. He threatened to increase the tariff rate to 25% if the US is not allowed to “purchase” Greenland by 1 June 2026…

On Wednesday, the Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that the US will control Venezuelan oil sales “indefinitely”. The next day, President Trump held a roundtable press conference with more than a dozen senior oil executives. While they acknowledged that Venezuela represented an enticing opportunity, the consensus was that significant changes would be needed before they can start investing. Exxon’s Chief Executive, Darren Woods, went as far as to label Venezuela “uninvestable” in its current state…

Early on Saturday morning, the US launched airstrikes on military bases in Caracas before kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from his compound. Maduro is now in New York facing an indictment from the Department of Justice accusing him of narco-terrorism, cocaine importation and various weapons charges. Trump has vowed to “run the country” until there is a “proper” transition of power in Venezuela and has also threatened to take similar action against Columbia and Mexico.

At Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, Trump claimed US oil giants are ready to rebuild the Venezuelan oil industry…

Released just before the Christmas break, data from the Bureau for Economic Analysis showed US GDP rose from 3.8% to 4.3% in the third quarter of the year. Economists had been expecting growth to slow, and the rate is far higher than expected. Consumer spending rose from 2.5% to 3.5%, and imports continued to decline while exports surged by 7.4%…

Last week we got a perfect hat-trick of interest rate decisions from the Bank of England, European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BoJ).

As expected, particularly after inflation for November was shown to have fallen to 3.2% on Wednesday, the BoE decided to cut the base rate from 4% to 3.75%. However, the vote was tight with four members of the bank’s committee voting against the reduction…