Second half outlook – fears and hopes

For Wall Street, the first six months of the year was a period the market experienced the most volatile period as the sell-off that we had ever observed was the steepest ever in living memory while the subsequent rally that took us from the March low to where we are today was hardly imaginable three months ago. (File pic shows statue of the fearless girl in Wall Street.)

AS we usher in the month of July next week, we will be entering the second half (2H) of the year with expectation that it will be better than the first half (1H).

At the start of the year, none of us would have imagined how the first six months of the year will pan out. As a matter of fact, the level of optimism on the economic and market front was bullish with strong GDP growth, driven by ease of trade tension between the United States and China then.