2016.04: April Economic Review

Steve Trinder

UK Highlights

GDP growth 0.60% Quarter on Quarter growth 2015 Q4
CPI inflation has been recorded at 0.30% in February 2016
For November 2015 to January 2016, 74.1% of people aged from 16 to 64 were in work, the highest employment rate since comparable records began in 1971.
The unemployment rate for November 2015 to January 2016 was 5.1% lower than a year earlier (5.7%).

GDP quarter on quarter growth

CPI Consumer Prices Index

Investment Markets – Update

In March, most sectors returned positive results, however, some still remained negative year to date, given the volatile market conditions experienced since the start of 2016.

Below we provide a table of the major sectors that we allocate to when constructing our client portfolios. The data has been sorted over 1 month in order of best to worst returns.

Sector	1m	3m	6m	1yr	3yr	5yr	10yr
UT Global Emerging Markets TR in GB	8.66	7.87	12.65	-8.91	-8.38	-8.04	51.81
UT Asia Pacific Excluding Japan TR in GB	6.55	4.21	12.45	-8.11	3.63	13.55	106.47
UT European Smaller Companies TR in GB	4.28	0.83	11.05	9.70	40.50	53.87	112.22
UT Sterling High Yield TR in GB	3.84	1.08	1.58	-1.90	7.19	22.32	56.95
UT UK Smaller Companies TR in GB	3.61	-2.45	0.81	7.62	36.04	63.05	103.66
UT Europe Excluding UK TR in GB	3.44	-0.21	6.49	-2.03	24.49	33.55	59.79
UT North American Smaller Companies TR in GB	2.77	0.95	8.19	-6.12	28.02	52.74	101.97
UT Sterling Corporate Bond TR in GB	2.51	2.22	2.46	-0.95	10.84	31.21	45.96
UT North America TR in GB	2.46	1.96	12.98	0.08	37.96	70.61	98.71
UT UK All Companies TR in GB	2.36	-1.64	2.82	-3.35	16.36	36.49	56.20
UT Japan TR in GB	1.91	-2.58	9.52	-2.61	19.75	40.24	7.89
UT Property TR in GB	1.81	1.72	4.29	3.57	20.98	28.83	7.72
UT UK Index Linked Gilts TR in GB	1.63	5.30	2.52	0.63	14.28	46.59	93.38
UT Global Bonds TR in GB	1.13	4.82	5.22	2.10	1.89	14.56	51.34
UT UK Gilts TR in GB	0.46	4.90	3.41	2.20	13.23	36.13	66.72
UT Targeted Absolute Return TR in GB	0.08	-0.91	-0.05	-0.66	7.10	11.97	37.68