Page 8 - ISLA_SLReport_Feb2021_final
P. 8

Global Market Dynamics















































                                                                                                            As 2020 begins to recede into the past, it will be   of society as we grappled with a global health emergency
                                                                                                            interesting to think what future historians will make of   not seen in a generation. At both a corporate and a
                                                                                                            one of the most extraordinary years in the history of the   personal level, much changed and at times very quickly.
                                                                                                            modern world. In our last Report published in August 2020,   We have all now become familiar with previously novel
                                                                                                            we looked in detail at how the effects of the COVID-19   concepts such as working from home, and how on-line
                                                                                                            pandemic had swept across the financial markets in the   shopping has evolved in such a way as to leave traditional
                                                                                                            first six months of the year. The pre-Brexit optimism seen   high street shopping settings redundant.
                                                                                                            in the UK in early January was rapidly replaced by a much
                                                                                                            more somber mood, as the pandemic affected almost every   The second half of 2020 was equally challenging,
                                                                                                            element of our daily lives.                 reflecting the changing shape of the pandemic and
                                                                                                                                                        how as the virus evolved, society itself having to adapt.
                                                                                                            What unfolded during February and March across Europe   Any suggestions that governments and healthcare
                                                                                                            and latterly across the rest of the world, touched almost   organisations were winning the battle with COVID-19
                                                                                                            every single person on the planet, drawing in all elements   were undermined as new variants of the virus emerged.

        8                                                                                                                                                                                       9
   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13