Market update - October 2018

October proved a difficult month for the stock market.  The trade tensions between the US and China, on-going Brexit negotiations and the EU’s rejection of Italy’s draft budget all seemed to weigh heavily on global equity markets. The FTSE 100 ended October at 7,128.10, which was 5.1% lower than the September closing figure of 7,510.20. Similarly, in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s performance was also down 5.1%, closing October at 25,115.76. We all know that stock fall in price. The chart below from First Trust shows US market returns (the S&P 500 index) since 1926.