Brexit – Reaction to an unexpected referendum result in the United Kingdom
24 June 2016
The xenophobia of the elderly members of the British populace has won through. There were simply not enough educated younger voters to stem the tide of ignorance.
The United Kingdom voted narrowly to leave the European Union, citing a dislike of Brussels Bureaucrats in general and Jean-Claude Juncker in particular, European inefficiency with a marked inability to take any decisions, Southern European corruption and immigration (though not from North Africa, far rather from Eastern Europe). The results of the British referendum were inconclusive, but in the United Kingdom, with a first past the post voting system, even a small margin is enough to establish a result. The buffoons leading the ‘leave’ campaign have clearly started to wonder what the next step should be, as they had no plans beyond the referendum and my not even have expected to win; in the meantime they seem to have gone into hiding. There are calls to find an Exit from Brexit.
The investment and currency markets immediately and expectedly reacted to the result with a series of violent knee-jerk movements with the value of the pound falling sharply against the Euro and the Euro itself falling against the US Dollar and the Yen. Stock markets fell sharply and the institutional flight to quality caused major purchases of US Dollar and Japanese government Bonds.
It is however unlikely that trade between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe will be affected at all in the short-term and probably not even in the medium term. London’s position as a global financial hub may be reduced, though principally probably in favour of Dublin where the financial staff at least doesn’t have to learn another language. The hopes that Paris and Frankfurt may be nursing are likely to be dashed. European governments are calling for a swift Brexit, maybe forgetting all the while that if that were to occur, it would be the first time in modern European history that any action was taken swiftly.
Where does this leave the private investor?
Nothing much will change for at least two years. While the investment markets are shaking with the fear of uncertainty at present, looked at dispassionately, good European fund managers will still find many excellent companies in which to invest, both in mainland Europe and in the United Kingdom. The sector that will suffer most are the banks, but few fund managers have investments in bank equities and bank debt can only gain in yield.
There is, strangely enough, a big world outside Europe and the United Kingdom.
The US markets will now play a bigger role in investor portfolios, both with US equity and debt funds. Good fund managers will find many opportunities with excellent companies to make a profit. The skill will be to find those good, indeed excellent, fund managers.
The energy markets are now once again in vogue, with a new discipline among producing companies. In the same vein, Emerging Markets, having had their own political problems had become less attractive, but are now selectively looking profitable again. Some markets, such as Russia, remain uninteresting and high risk, but China is as always worth considering. Despite the current flight into Yen, investors should be aware. The problems caused by Prime Minister Abe’s three arrows policy, where the third arrow missed its mark, remain and dent corporate profitability.
Now is the time to invest, while the markets are jittery and prices wonderfully depressed.
John Townsend advises clients on their investment portfolios for Matz-Townsend Finanzplanung.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in London.
(Townsend@insure-invest.de)