Thank you, David Gardner and St James’s Place Asia and Middle East, for sharing your valuable market insights with our community in the SJP 7th October Weekwatch.

Stock Take

• Chinese and US markets rose last week despite geopolitical fears in the Middle East, while European and Japanese shares struggled.

• Concerns about Israel and Iran caused oil prices to increase. Brent crude oil rose 9.2% to $78.23 a barrel, marking the largest weekly gain in almost two years, as low global oil supplies pushed prices up.

• High energy prices contributed to the high inflation affecting the global economy after the pandemic. However, despite last week's increase, oil prices remain significantly lower than their peak of nearly $90 a barrel in April and far from the over $120 levels of 2022.

We caught up with James from Summit Financial, a Partner Practice of St James's Place Asia for his outlook for 2022. 

2021 was a volatile year with a New Administration in the US, widespread Covid19 Vaccine rollout, rising inflation, and energy crisis S&P 500 reached record highs over 60 times Hong Kong and China remained weak. 

Looking ahead main themes that are likely to persist.