Oil prices continued to plunge in November, dipping below USD70/barrel in the days following OPEC’s scheduled meeting when, in a surprising development, the organisation decided to leave its output ceiling unchanged. The price of Brent has now fallen by some 35% since the beginning of the financial year. Equities and bonds generally delivered positive returns in November as expectations of the European Central Bank (ECB) expanding its quantitative easing (QE) policy increased. Strong performance from the non-energy sectors in the US also saw the S&P 500 eke out successive record highs during the month. Energy related equities and High Yield bonds sold off significantly, in line with the falling oil price.
