Latest investment update

Published: May 2025

Stock markets became more settled by the end of April following quite a bit of volatility in the first few weeks of the month.

At the start of April, global markets fell due to the uncertainty created by US President Trump’s extensive trade tariffs. But markets started to recover once the president began scaling back or pausing his proposals.

Markets actually ended the month pretty much back where they were at the start of it. So if you’d gone away for April and switched off your news alerts, you’d have returned thinking nothing had changed.

More broadly, we’re also seeing greater clarity on the tariff situation, and investors are taking comfort in that. While there’s still some uncertainty, the range of possible outcomes is narrowing, and we’re seeing potential trade deals and lower tariffs which could help stabilise things.

The outlook for the economy still looks good despite the bumpy ride in April, so the team at Coutts behind Royal Bank Invest still like stocks.

They invest across a range of regions and sectors worldwide, and currently see particularly promising opportunities in America and Japan.

They also invest in government bonds to help cushion the funds from market falls – because when stocks go down bonds usually tend to go up. 

Companies have been announcing their financial results for the first three months of this year and have generally reported positive performance.

At the time of writing, over 370 companies on the S&P 500 – the stock market index for the largest businesses in the US – had announced their results. Three-quarters of them had beaten expectations, which was in line with the average since 2013.

One sector that underperformed was ‘consumer discretionary’ – companies providing non-essential goods and services like high-end clothing, entertainment and travel. In this sector, 33% of companies had missed expectations.

This could be a sign of US shoppers starting to rein in their spending, which would make sense as US economic growth has been slowing down. But crucially, the economy is still growing. And the Coutts experts believe this should mean continued positive conditions for long-term investors.

Here you’ll find our previous investment market updates.