Stock markets pulled back in November, as worries about an AI bubble persisted, along with concerns about a lack of visibility over the state of the US economy as official data releases were delayed due to the government shutdown.
President Donald Trump signed a funding bill on 12 November, which ended the longest US government shutdown in history, having lasted for 43 days.
Tilmann Galler, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management (JPM), said that even though the shutdown ended in mid-November, “market uncertainty regarding the ambiguous data environment, the impact on growth, and the progress of monetary policy weighed on sentiment”.
Meanwhile, AI bubble fears continued to loom over markets. “Excellent quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA) failed to allay concerns about high valuations and fears of overly optimistic profit expectations surrounding the artificial intelligence ecosystem,” Galler said.
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More broadly, Galler said that strong earnings and revenue beats in the third-quarter earnings season “failed to ignite another leg up in the group or the broader US market”.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose just 0.2% in November, according to JPMorgan Asset Management’s monthly market review.
In the UK, the big focus for investors was the long-awaited autumn budget, which chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered on 26 November. Reeves announced £26.1bn ($34.8bn) of tax rises in the budget, which helped double her fiscal headroom to £21.7bn.
This offered some relief to investors, given how much fears had mounted over the size of a potential fiscal “black hole” in the lead up to the budget. Confirmation of where tax rises would come into place – and which areas had been spared from hikes – also offered more certainty to the public, following months of speculation.
Even so, the UK’s FTSE All-Share (^FTAS) advanced just 0.4% in November, according to JPMorgan Asset Management’s review.
Despite a rocky month for tech stocks, “Magnificent 7” giants remained among the most popular stocks with investors using Interactive Investor, Robinhood (HOOD) and Bestinvest’s platforms. Big-name FTSE 100 (^FTSE) stocks were also among investors’ preferred picks.
Here’s more detail on some of the stocks that proved most popular in November, according to investment platform data.
Despite AI jitters, chipmaker Nvidia has continued to be a firm favourite with investors, appearing on all three platforms’ most popular stock lists in November.
