My review of the first quarter of 2018 should start with Thank goodness it’s over! In January, American investors were talking about a melt-up but February was very different with nerves stretched tight as worries surfaced about the pace of interest rate increases by the central banks. We then saw a rapid sell-off, knocking shares off their highs and jolting investors. Again, the focus was on New York where the FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google) clawed their way back. But the controversy around Facebook’s ability to protect its customers’ data-led investors to ditch the FAANGs again. Meanwhile, escalating rhetoric from the US, Europe and China over tariffs led to fears of protectionism, thus encouraging investors to reduce holdings in companies exposed to international trade. Furthermore, Russia’s use of Novichok on the streets of Salisbury and the diplomatic consequences that flowed from that has hardly improved investor sentiment.

The upshot of all that was that London fell by 8.2% in the first quarter, Tokyo 6.3%, Shanghai 5.3% and New York 1.8%. The Athelney Trust unaudited NAV fell by 7.2% whereas the FTSE Small Cap, Fledgling and AIM All-share all declined by 5.4%, 3.7% and 3.5% respectively. Not a good result at all and notable for another nine shares falling by 10% or more in March mostly on disappointing company news. Mind you, if a dot or comma was out of place in a company statement, then the shares fell sharply. On the other hand, a good statement produced no action at all. The outlook is undoubtedly darker than at the start of the year. Nevertheless, the Brexit vote, fears of trade wars and a new cold war, North Korean missiles flying over Japan, the global debt burden, the roller-coaster ride of cryptocurrencies, the list goes on and on, yet all these things have been survived. Let us also not forget those juicy dividend yields on shares which are simply unavailable elsewhere.