The first quarter of 2024 is now rapidly receding in the rearview mirror, but investors are finding it harder than ever to shrug off the impact of recent market moves.
As the FT Unhedged column recently noted, S&P 500 momentum, as measured by its price relative to its 52-week moving average, was in the top decile (historically speaking) for February and March. 'Run your winners’ is hardly a novel philosophy, but as the appetite for all things AI grows more ravenous, the trend is becoming particularly pronounced.
This price performance means certain fund flow trends are also continuing to accelerate: remarkably, Calastone data shows that UK investors have put more into North American (ie US) equity funds in the four months since December than they did in the previous nine years combined. Investors will have their own views on whether that’s more evidence of momentum’s inexorable power, or a hint that all this is ultimately unsustainable.