As it stands, there are only two months left of 2024 and yet, for investors, the next few weeks could be some of the most consequential of the year.

We provide a snapshot of the Budget and the market response to it in our News section this week but you can expect further analysis of the fall-out on our website and in next week’s issue too.

Also check our site for coverage of the latest Magnificent Seven results which were due as we went to press. Then there’s the small matter of the US presidential election next week.

The bookies seem to be leaning towards a Trump victory but, as this column observed last week, they have been wrong before and most of the polling suggests this remains a closely-fought election. This has its own implications for the market – particularly if any result is contested.

Towards the end of next month, Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) – which has set the tone for markets over the last year or more – is set to unveil its latest quarterly earnings.

That’s a lot of information or ‘noise’ for investors to digest. So, what exactly should they do with it all. At Shares we’ll be doing our best to provide you with insights into the implications of these bits of news but perhaps the most useful thing to remember is that investing, done best, is a long-term endeavour.

There could well be some volatility ahead but the dangers of overreacting are much greater than sitting on your hands. Study after study shows that if you miss just a few of the best days of the market (which often follow the worst) then it can have an extremely deleterious impact on your returns and the key to success is time in the markets rather than timing the markets.

After reaching its first new record high in March since December 1989, Japan’s flagship index has found it much tougher going for a variety of reasons – the latest being a snap election which failed to deliver the mandate new PM Shigeru Ishiba was looking for, leaving him fighting for his political life.

Investors will fear a dose of governmental paralysis which could herald another period in the wilderness for Japanese stocks. However, one possible catalyst which could get things moving is M&A (mergers and acquisitions).

Dealmaking has historically not been a big feature of Japanese markets but there are whisperings that the bid for 7-Eleven parent Seven & I (3382:TYO) from Canadian convenience store group Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD:TSE) could fire the starting gun on a wave of Japanese takeovers. Something to watch at least.

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