Although I am not a football fan, and I confess, I did not watch the final of the Women’s Euro 2022, I do think it was a tremendous result, not only or the England team, but for women’s sport in general.
I wonder if in 56 years’ time, we will still be talking about that result in the same way that we harp on about the 1966 World Cup Final – hopefully, we won’t have to wait that long for another success!
I did find it quite interesting to read in some of the notes that the Football Association banned ladies football from 1921 right the way through until 1971 and therefore when England won the World Cup in ’66, ladies football was not allowed – that just seems incredible!
Just in case you were wondering, I’m not a complete sporting philistine though – the reason I wasn’t watching the football is because I was watching the finals of the rugby 7’s at the Commonwealth Games – with only 14 minutes per game, it really was a fast and furious competition, for both men and women and highly entertaining.
There was a common point of interest though, with both the ladies football and the Commonwealth Games, and that was how much of a family environment both events enjoyed and was rather a refreshing change from some of the other spectator behaviour that we see all too often.
Turning now to the political scene, as I was writing last month’s News Letter, things were unfolding at No. 10 Downing Street and following the initial contest between potential candidates for the Tory party leadership, we are now down to a blue on blue war of words, which frankly, leaves me rather pleased that I’m not a Tory part member (nor a member of any party come to that), and therefore, won’t have to make a decisions as to who to vote for. Thankfully, this should all be resolved by early September, and it will be interesting to see how markets react to the eventual results.
At the present time, the UK political situation seems to be having little impact on the markets, which during the month of July, have shown much more positivity in most areas. Volatility remains though and it likely to continue for somewhile and therefore, I think it’s too early to predict that we’ve actually seen the bottom, although I do believe we must be close to it.
I know it’s dangerous to quote from any specific publications, but I did read an article on 9th July that appeared in the Daily Telegraph that had the headline ‘It hurts now, but battle against inflation has already been won’ and this was a headline that grabbed my attention, as I thought it was quite bold to say the least!
With average family costs continuing to climb and major concerns over energy and heating bills later this year and in the winter, it prompted me to dig deeper into the article to see what the arguments were.
The thoughts that were being expressed were the fact that commodity prices, such as wheat and copper and most of oil, are coming down sharply as demand shrinks and supplies increase, whilst at the same time, despite the industrial action that’s underway at present, there is no sign of a wage price spiralling increase, which combined to suggest that the higher inflation will not be sustainable.
As he had referred to 3 specific indexes, I thought I would have a look one month on from the data he was looking at previously and the trend has indeed continued to see a fall in those prices.
I would say that one month is far too short a period to draw any conclusions, and simply by looking at 3 commodities, it would be dangerous to read too much into it, but this was an interesting argument and certainly one that I will watch going forward to see how this works out.
There are of course, exceptions to the argument and the supply of gas throughout Europe has to be one of those that we need to remain mindful of.
As always with this time of year, with schools out and summer holidays in full swing, trading levels tend to be relatively thin in most markets and we probably need to wait for September/October to see how things will shape up for the remainder of 2022. Without a doubt though, the first 6 months has been probably one of the worst on record for most sectors being in hugely negative territory.
For now, let’s enjoy the long summer evenings and hopefully, some continued warm weather to go with them!
Stay safe!
Best wishes from all at ABC