After several weeks of non-stop gains, driven by vaccination hopes, markets paused for breath. The Food & Drug Administration in the US granted emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last Thursday and it is likely that approval of the Moderna vaccine will follow suit. The US has ordered an initial 100,000 million doses and will roll out the vaccine this week. Similar to the UK, the US will first vaccinate the elderly, health workers and emergency crew. Coronavirus deaths have risen sharply since November in the US, recording 3,000 deaths in a single day, the highest daily total in the world to date.

Brexit negotiations continued to swing between a deal and no deal throughout the week. While Boris Johnson has warned that the most likely outcome will be a ‘no deal’, at the 11^th hour on Sunday, both sides agreed to extend the deadline and have pledged ‘to go the extra mile’ to reach an agreement. Fishing rights, a level playing field for businesses to operate and how the agreement should be policed remain the stumbling blocks. The Pound rallied on the news, clawing back some of the previous week’s losses.

The deadline extension is deeply frustrating for UK businesses who now have even less time to plan how they will trade with Europe. If a deal is not reached, businesses will move to World Trade Organization rules when the transition period ends on 31st December 2020, which will result in tariffs and quotas being imposed on both sides. The UK car manufacturing sector has forecast a £55bn tariff hit over 5-years if no deal is reached and the British Retail Consortium expects an additional £3bn in food tariffs, which will likely be passed on to consumers.

In what  has been a very difficult year, we are pleased that our Multi-Asset Blend Funds and model portfolios have delivered strong performance at the time of writing. We received external recognition for our efforts when we were awarded the coveted Investment Week Specialist Multi-Asset Group of the Year award at the beginning of December.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients for their ongoing support of the Multi-Asset Blend Funds and model portfolios and wish you a happy festive period.

We will be taking a break from penning The World In A Week and will return on 4^th January 2021.

Any opinions stated are honestly held but are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon.

The information contained in this document is not to be regarded as an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell, any investments or products.

The content of this document is for information only. It is advisable that you discuss your personal financial circumstances with a financial adviser before undertaking any investments.

All the data contained in the communication is believed to be reliable but may be inaccurate or incomplete.  Unless otherwise specified all information is produced as of 14^th December 2020.