So there it is – we reach the third major landmark on the roadmap out of lockdown in the UK with pubs and restaurants allowed to serve people inside, overseas travel rules eased and social hugging back to being as uncomfortably awkward as it was before. Small steps but forward steps nonetheless as we continue to tiptoe along the path back to normality.

So we finish a tumultuous week only about 50 bps lower than where we started it (Stoxx 600 +1.19% to 442.53 vs last Friday’s close 444.93) but this remains a market that is very definitely not for the faint-hearted. The Banks again leading Europe better and that’s become a very well established theme albeit the SX7E not a million miles away from the 100 target now.

One of our former autos analysts wrote the definitive Buy note on Tesla a few years ago when they were trading significantly lower than where they are now. It was so good in fact that Elon Musk hired him to be….Head of IR at Tesla. That’s got to be a lively job hasn’t it? I mean an absolutely brilliant one obviously but one imagines there’s never a dull moment.

So I had my second jab today. It’s amazing how interested people are in which one you had – giving an approving nod when you tell them you were Pfizer – not dissimilar to a sommelier when you pick the right wine. And to be fair, so far so good. “Ah you’re feeling fine now – but with Pfizer it’s the next day that’s a nightmare” one of my clients kindly told me this afternoon. So that’s something to look forward to.

A House of Cards feel to the day as the FCA confirmed that they will formally investigate the Greensill Capital fiasco and a UK Parliamentary Committee raked through who knew what and when as David Cameron frantically whizzed through his rolodex trying to save his millions of pounds worth of options the firm back in March.

Well I didn’t want to go to Ibiza in May half term anyway. Sun, sea, sand? Who needs it? Far better to stay here and watch the market move +/- 50 bps every day. Today dominated by the Friday night announcement that the UK government were only really adding Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel as credible holiday destinations from next week. Some great points picked up by our Travel & Leisure team (not least that St Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cunha are only accessible via a one week sail from South Africa which – erm – isn’t on the Green list).

Finger on the trigger then – who is booking where? Portugal? Spain? ‘Murica? Only the quickest of Snapshots tonight because at 5pm Transport Secretary Grant Shapps – the man once described by one of his colleagues as being “not someone you’d buy a used car off” – will be announcing where we can travel to and when. Ibiza for the May half term Grant – there’s a good lad. A rollercoaster end to a rollercoaster week as the Non-Farm Payrolls saw the usual whipsaw in markets but we end it with the Stoxx 600 having ground out another c1% gain.

Did we just see the least enthusiastic rally of the year so far? It feels very possible but it’s maybe the two hour call I had with the EU regulator and assorted others discussing the likelihood of a consolidated tape in Europe that took away some of my zest for life today. Markets trudging their way back to just above where we started out yesterday (Stoxx 600 +1.82% to 441.55 vs Monday’s close of 439.91) after the late rally in the U.S and a lack of much of anything in Asia (Japan and China both closed) meant that any conviction people were starting to feel to the downside fizzled pretty quickly.

It’s going to be a sad goodbye but my 16 year old Volvo and I will soon have to part ways. The ULEZ changes beckon so, on Saturday, I started to scout around for an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (very reminiscent of my switch to “cleaner” diesel in 2005 which was also a government led initiative). I don’t know if you’ve tried to buy a car recently but the message is clear – buy what you can now because there’s nothing coming any time soon.

So let’s play May Day Bank Holiday bingo shall we. One point each for “I can’t believe it’s May already“, “isn’t the year going quickly” and “of course it’s raining – it’s a bank holiday” with a bonus point for “shall we clear out the….”. May always a test of nerves for investors and we’re […]