Diversification: The case for looking further afield in 2025

Few events gladden investors' hearts more than the near-traditional "Santa rally". This is the term used to describe the upswing that often takes place during the final stock-trading days of December.  Alas, Santa had other ideas in 2024. The US Federal Reserve's heavy hint that it would deliver fewer interest rate cuts than anticipated this year wasn't the festive message markets were hoping for.  The S&P 500 index suffered its sharpest one-day drop in five months after Fed chairman Jay Powell revealed that end-of-year projections on inflation had "kind of fallen apart". This wiped o...