Investor Newsletter April 2023
Hello and welcome to our April 2023 Newsletter.
Friday 27th January last was a momentous day for Provest when the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath TD officially opened our office. It was a great honour for us to host Minister McGrath and we sincerely appreciated the time on the day he afforded us, a local business in his constituency.
I would sincerely like to thank all of my colleagues and acquaintances who participated in making the day a very memorable one.
On the investment front, in an historically rare occurrence, both equities and bonds delivered negative returns in 2022. Global asset markets were volatile in Q1 2023 amid rising economic headwinds and uncertainty around the trajectory of monetary policy. Despite this, both equities and fixed-income markets rallied over the period.
Global banks are staring at the biggest crisis since 2008 after two U.S. lenders collapsed, Switzerland’s Credit Suisse sought a government lifeline and America’s top banks agreed to offer a $30 billion rescue deal - all in the space of 10 days.
The turmoil has ratcheted up fears of a contagion and it remains to be seen whether central banks will do enough to contain the damage.
Inflation in Ireland remains high but has begun to ease, with both headline and core inflation now expected to be lower than previously forecast in 2023, at 5 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.
The Department Social Protection published further information on the new Automatic Enrolment retirement savings system in early April.
AE has an intended commencement date of Q1 2024, however with so much work still to be done here at Provest we would not be surprised if the start date is pushed out to later in 2024 or beyond.
As the legislation progresses, the Department Social Protection will need to work closely with businesses to advise and help them prepare for the introduction of AE.
We hope that the articles addressed in this current Newsletter stimulate and provoke discussion and would encourage you contact us if we can be of assistance in any way on 021 2010123 or info@provest.ie
Mark O’Sullivan, Managing Director