LONDON - Dec. 30, 2019 - Crowd for Angels presents five predictions for what might happen in the financial markets in 2020.
Bitcoin bounce?
Once again it was a volatile year for Bitcoin in 2019, with the king of cryptos rising fourfold between February and June to a high of around $14,000. But since halved in value to end the year, as we write, at around $7,250.
A noteworthy event in the crypto markets should come around May/June when the block rewards for successfully mining Bitcoin are expected to halve, from 12.5 to 6.25. In theory, these halvings should lead to a rise in the Bitcoin price as the supply of new BTC falls and the currency heads closer to it 21 million issuance limit.
On that basis, Bitcoin investors could do well to buy in the last few months of the new year.
Rise in environmental investing
One trend set to continue on from 2019 and into 2020 is a rise in so called ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, also known as "sustainable investing."
Just a few weeks before she left office, former PM Theresa May laid out plans for the UK government to set a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target in law. This has since been re-committed to in the Conservative party manifesto.
Low carbon technology and clean energy are estimated to contribute a chunky £44.5 billion to the economy every year. As with any industry which is seeing a positive change in regulations, watch out for more environmental focussed firms looking to raise money via crowdfunding.
Increase in interest rates
No change was seen in the UK base rate in 2019, with the 0.75% level having been held.
If anything, we see the rate being increased rather than decreased during 2020, but by no more than 25 to 50 basis points, depending on the economic data. At present there is no pressure on the inflation side of things, with the CPI measure being only 1.5% for November 2019.
Growth in UK Stocks
UK stock investors had a pretty good time in 2019 as the markets recovered from the slump seen at the end of 2018. The FTSE 100 put on a decent showing by rising 13.6%, with the UK focussed FTSE 250 dismissing the Brexit blues by rising 26%.
As the UK finally exits the EU and a major uncertainty is removed from the market then the country should enjoy a Boris business boost.
And Finally…
Of the many expected major global events in 2020, the Toyko Olympics and the US Presidential election, watch out as Richard Branson has been predicting for longer than we can remember, watch out for Virgin Galactic finally launching its commercial space flights in 2020.
Contact
Crowd for Angels
marketing@crowdforagels.com
