Despite a positive start to the month, global equities declined overall as the spread of coronavirus reduced risk appetite especially amongst energy and airline stocks. US equities initially rallied but erased all gains with the Dow Jones index losing -1.1% due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. The FTSE 100

Major indices saw a significantly better return this year after a dismal 2018. The S&P 500 index delivered a gain of more than 28%, it’s best annual performance since 2013 and up 10% from its 2018 peak level.  The Nasdaq 100 did even better climbing 35% finishing just below 9,000