Global Markets Insights: August 2023

In what was a volatile month, very few asset classes provided positive returns in August, with the exception of oil. August is a notoriously tricky month for investors and this past month proved no exception. Worries ranged from the stuttering Chinese recovery and ongoing problems for its property sector, stubborn European inflation, a sharp slowdown in Germany, high UK wage growth and, until the last week, strong US growth. An ill-conceived tax surcharge on Italian bank profits did not help matters either.