August ’26: Summer calm

August was another fabulous summer month in the UK. The lack of rain became a nasty drought, with hosepipe bans across much of the country – including my Coastal Folly’s Wessex Water supplier (for the first time in over 50 years). But lawns aside it made for an enjoyable month. I spent quite a bit of time on the south coast. I finally ticked off the Isle of Wight’s Osborne House from my bucket list, and also made it down to Portland’s lighthouse – Dorset’s southerly point. Markets in August Markets didn’t move much in August. My markets moved, on average and after currency movements, up 0.5%. The most notable component was a slight drop in bonds, with Trump/Hormuz-driven inflation looking more persistent than it had appeared a month earlier. The equity trend of the year – the SaaSpocalypse – is now starting to feel like old news. Some stocks that were hammered by it are now trading up above their pre-1-Jan stock price. Hubspot remains very bruised, as does (not shown) XeRO – in which…