Many of you would, we hope, have been reading the Market Commentary since 2004 when began to send it out every Friday. The intention was to draw the readers' attention to often arcane and under-reported areas of financial markets, on which it would hopefully inform and illuminate. After speaking to some of our customers, we believe that it will be better to circulate the Market Commentary using more modern media.

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee, established in 2013, meets on a quarterly basis to monitor and take action to address, remove or reduce any systemic risks which could negatively impact the UK financial system. In recent meetings, the Committee has rightly been focused on the potential impact of Brexit.

It has been a tumultuous week for equity markets with the MSCI All Country World Index sinking to an eight month low on Thursday morning. Although preceded by four consecutive down days, the sell-off truly gathered momentum on Wednesday when the S&P 500 suffered its largest one-day fall since February.

Politics once again dominated the direction of financial markets this week. It began with news that Donald Trump’s administration had successfully renegotiated Canada’s involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement, with Canada agreeing to a number of concessions, in return for avoiding onerous tariffs on its vehicle exports to the US. White House officials are now of the view that the renegotiated agreement hands Trump more power in his battle with China.