Rapid economic recovery to support equities

Our view that the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis will be faster and fuller than most expect is consistent with UK equity prices continuing to rise over the next couple of years. Admittedly, UK equities have lagged their international counterparts since the pandemic. The FTSE 250 only rose back to its pre-pandemic level earlier this month and the FTSE 100 is still 9% below it. But the composition of the UK’s equity indices means that they should benefit by more than others from the economic recovery. As such, the gap between UK and international equities may narrow over the next couple of years.