Global markets fell more sharply this month amid growing concerns over the spread of coronavirus and its potential impact on global economic growth. US equities fell heavily with the energy and financial sectors leading the declines. Earlier on in the month a new record high was set for the S&P 500 index on very robust jobs data, although that was very short lived. The DOW Jones index tanked -9.6% to close below 26,000 losing over 2,500 points over concerns of the unprecedented epidemic.
Concerns surfaced that the coronavirus and its impact on travel and business activity could send the fragile eurozone economy into recession. German data revealed zero growth for Q4 2019 leading to a decline of -7.7% or more than 1,000 points sending the DAX back to the 12,000 level. UK indices displayed particular weakness with the FTSE 100 losing -9.7%, especially in the oil and gas sector despite positive economic data as coronarius fears took centre stage. Despite major central banks promising to remain supportive, the UK equity market saw its sharpest fall since the financial crisis in 2008.
Both services managed a very small loss in comparison to the index losses witnessed. Fortunately gains were capitalised earlier on in the month, only the profit was lost as we stayed out of the market towards the end of the month when volatility picked up. This month a total of 214 trade orders were provided which is lower than usual volume. Subscribers can expect anything from 200 to 300 trade orders in any given month. A total of 46 or 21% of trades were activated, usually no more than 30% of trades are triggered in any given month.
February saw fairly similar performance between our two services. The STANDARD service lost -1.8% whereas the PREMIUM service lost of -1.2%. The PREMIUM service delivered a loss of £180 on my £10,000 account due to higher leverage (1.5) used. A proportionally larger loss was witnessed on my £20,000 as expected. Using low leverage means low drawdowns however if you are comfortable in taking more risk, gains can be multiplied by increasing position size. My position size is included in my orders but obviously users can amend this according to their account size or risk profile. Past performance mentioned is no indication of future performance and may not be repeated.