Today, we look back at February 1985, one that brings déjà vu feelings. The market had passed through a phase of weakness reflecting anxiety about oil prices and the currency. Pressure was growing on authorities to take every possible step to resist a big rise in rates. Sounds familiar?
In this issue, an annual survey of management group performance assessing the best and worst unit trust figures was published. According to the survey, Manulife High Income topped the list with a return of £1,542 based on an investment of £1,000 made the year before.
Europe continued to grow in popularity despite mediocre 12 month performance figures for 1984. At this point there were more than 20 unit trusts whose aim was investment in Europe and most of them had been launched within the last three years.
The property market continued to regain confidence cautiously as pension funds, life companies and other institutional investors came back after a long period of absence. Figures showed an overall increase in rental values in the retail sector of 10.8 per cent per annum during 1984. Industrial rents grew at an annual rate of 4.4 per cent.
In other news...
• Nelson Mandela rejected an offer of freedom from the South African government.
• The first episode of the long-running British soap opera EastEnders was broadcast on 19 February.
• Minolta releases the Maxxum 7000, the world’s first autofocus single-lens reflex camera.
• On 3 February, senior staff writer Spriha Srivastava was born (in case that is of interest), followed by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo on 5 February.
• And 80s classic I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner was number one in the charts.
More Back in the day…
May 1990
April 1986
