The Fund rose by 0.31% in January, just behind its performance comparator of cash (as measured by the Bank of England’s Sterling Overnight Index Average (“SONIA”)) + 5%, which rose by 0.43%.

January saw a good start to the year, continuing where 2021 left off as fears about the latest Covid variant, Omicron, continued to recede. By the close on the 20th January the UK stock market (as measured by the FTSE 100 index) was up 2.76% since the start of the month. Inflation worries rose again however, and by the 24th the FTSE 100 index had fallen 3.80% from its closing level on the 20th, caused by worries that the Federal Reserve would be more aggressive in their monetary tightening in response to persistently high inflation figures. A volatile few days eventually saw some of this fall reversed, with the FTSE 100 index finishing the month 1.12% up.

One strategy had an observation point in January – a structured note taken out in January 2020 with Morgan Stanley as the counterparty. This strategy needed the FTSE 100 index to be at or above its starting level of 7,609.81 on the observation date to mature with a gain. On the day the FTSE 100 index closed at 7,611.233, less than 2 points, or 0.019%, above the initial level, but enough to trigger the maturity with a gain of 21.6%.