Last month Global bonds and the Aussie stock market were the best performing asset classes, returning around 2% for the month.

Global stock markets were weak ahead of the November 3 Presidential election and a fresh outbreak of Covid-19 which forced the UK and much of Europe back into lockdowns. Germany and France (the Eurozone powerhouse economies) indicated they will lockdown for at least 1 mth. As a result, European stocks were the worst performing,falling 7%, and the UK also fell almost 5%. European GDP is expected to contract by around 2% for this quarter.

The US economy continued to grow, showing a strong7.4% growth rate in the 3Q, up from the previous quarter’s -9%. While that was positive, profit taking and nerves dominated US stocks, as they closed 2.6% lower with most of the selloffaccelerating into the month’s end.