The dangers of basing investment strategies on media forecasts were highlighted dramatically in 2016 as the outcome of major world events and the market reaction to them confounded pundits.
- The major news event was Donald Trump’s US presidential election win. The Republican outsider and populist defeated Democrat Hilary Clinton on a platform that tapped into voter anger at “insider” politics and the effects of globalisation.
- Anti-free trade and anti-immigration sentiments also fuelled the mid-year vote by Britons in favour of leaving the European Union, again a largely unheralded result that led to the resignation of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.