Top-traded markets last week

With inflation concerns front and centre of investors' minds as 2022 gets underway, it is perhaps not surprising that Gold has been the top traded market amongst clients. Traditionally viewed as a hedge against the rising cost of living, any goldbugs will be hoping that this year proves to be a bit more exciting for the precious metal than 2021 ended up being. With plenty of other assets steadily climbing, gold had a disappointing 12 months and ended the year lower than where it started. It’s always a popular market - but the cynic could suggest that if gold is such a great hedge against inflation, then why hasn’t it started moving already? Either way, it will be an interesting one to watch as the year gets underway.

The high tech NASDAQ100 index is always a popular one and Wednesday of this week was something of a momentous day - just not in a good way. The index suffered its biggest fall since February 2021, ensuring that the new year got off to quite a dramatic start. The NASDAQ has been lagging behind its more border-based bigger brother, the S&P500, in recent weeks. Are investors starting to worry that the go-getting tech stocks have had their time for now and valuations are getting too overstretched? It is often said that bull markets climb a wall of worry and I think the fate of the NASDAQ will be an interesting watch this year as we see the tug of war between the devoted “buy the dip” investors, and those who have become more cynical of the lofty valuations tech stocks have hit.