The importance of thinking independently

TO say that 2022 has not begun especially well for stock market investors is probably a massive understatement. We can probably even forget about thinking of selling in May and going away now. Many investors had jumped the gun long before the popular adage suggests.

Since the start of the year, the S&P 500 has lost nearly 14 per cent of its value. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen by more than a fifth, and the Shanghai Composite along with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong have given up 17 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively. Singapore’s Straits Times Index, by contrast, has held up reasonably well. It is up around 5 per cent. Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Composite Index is flat for the year, whilst the Jakarta Composite Index is up almost 10 per cent.

Despite the resilient performance by Singapore, Indonesian, and Malaysian shares, we cannot entirely ignore the swathe of bad news that continues to weigh on the minds of global investors. The litany of terrible events includes the war in Ukraine, China’s inability to bring Covid-19 under control, inflationary pressures in just about every corner of the globe, rising interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and a collapse in bond prices.