Aberdeen loses after opting out of US market

President Trump’s surprise win hurt Aberdeen Asset Management after it missed out on America’s record-breaking stock market rally.

The Scottish fund giant, which specialises in emerging market stocks, shunned US equities ahead of the vote in November and paid the price when markets went on a winning streak.

“The Trump result meant the last quarter was tougher,” chief executive Martin Gilbert said.

“We were underweight in the US and that hurt us a bit. Sentiment was very buoyant coming up to the election for all our capabilities but it paused after that.”

Trump’s win helped push America’s Dow Jones index past a record 20,000 points and the S&P 500 is up about 8% since his win.

Between September and December, £20.6 billion of cash walked out the door at Aberdeen, with two big customers accounting for £4.2 billion of that.

Just over £10 billion came in, leaving Aberdeen’s flow of new cash down £10.5 billion. Gilbert said he was “pretty upbeat” and saw signs of improvement this month.