In no laughing mood, really?

April’s Fool Day last Monday marked the end of the first quarter of 2018 but when one looks at the stock market performance since the beginning of the year, there may seem to be little reason to feel festive and willing to joke around. Despite a roaring start to the year, the market has suffered falls since early February, putting an end to the equity rally. Equities declined over the quarter with the Dow Jones losing 2.5% and the Euro Stoxx 50 4.0%.

The relative good news is that the insurance sector outperformed with losses limited to 1.7% for the Insurance Stoxx 600. And as for Ageas? In this downward-oriented market, Ageas’ share enjoyed a strong boost during the quarter, gaining 3.1% and breaking above a nine-year high of 43 euro. A good reason to return to smile!

The second quarter started on a negative note as the trade hostilities between China and the US sent the stock market into wild swings this week. On Monday, while most European exchanges remained closed to celebrate Easter, the US stocks tumbled, the S&P 500 slumping by 2.2% and the Nasdaq even dropping 2.7% with tech stocks strongly under pressure (Amazon lost 5.2% following negative comments from Donald Trump, Intel was down 6.1% while Tesla recorded a further 5.1% decrease). But markets turned calmer by the end of the week, on the back of easing trade concerns, and both US and European stocks recovered and even ended the week in positive territory. Ageas’ shares gained 1.7% between the opening of the market on Tuesday and its closing on Friday, which represents a year to date performance of 4.3%. So overall, there seems to be every reason to be cheerful!

As you may remember, Ageas reported in 2017 the strongest result of its history. Don’t hesitate to consult our 2017 annual report which was released on Friday if you are interested in knowing all the details.