RE: Going Up9 May 2025 19:49
Statement from John Goold our non exec and chief executive of Kelso
Will Donald Trump have ironically beaten Rachel to it and saved the UK stock market…?
The FTSE 100 has just seen its longest-ever positive run since its inception in 1984 of 15 consecutive days. Such rallies don’t happen by chance.
I have heard from several senior market practitioners that big US money is already flowing into London equities and likely even more so since the tariff agreement was signed yesterday. Donald’s “hand grenade” a few weeks ago which is expected to negatively impact US companies and consumers alike, and has led to dollar devaluation may well be the catalyst for this shift. I can’t see much else that might explain the rally.
As we know, it usually takes a few weeks for UK small and mid-caps to follow a strong FTSE 100 rally but that pickup already seems well underway.
One of the standout sector beneficiaries in recent weeks has been UK retail. In the past month, Next Plc is up 12%, Dunelm up 28%, Currys up 26%, and Halfords a whopping 39%, to name just a few. What is particularly reassuring is that the rally has already filtered down to the micro-caps: previously unloved stocks for several years like Angling Direct and The Works are up 20% and 33% respectively over the last month and still remain very lowly valued. These moves may just mean that what is left of the UK stock market remains intact.
The idea that Donald Trump might be the saviour of the UK stock market doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but I do think Rachel Reeves missed her chance to steal the glory. That said, all is not lost Rachel. If we got some UK government stimulus on top of the “Donald rally”… the UK market could really get exciting again - especially at the smaller end.