The 13th day of a month falling on a Friday is generally considered to be ‘unlucky’ and there are various reasons attributed to this Friday the 13th – Wikipedia.  I’ve never found the number 13 particularly ominous having grown up in house number 13 and as far as I am aware nothing significantly unlucky ever befell us!

Given the turbulence we have all experienced over the past year on many fronts it may be that this day seems like a particularly unwanted occurrence following a difficult year for many. However, I am here to highlight 13 reasons for that not to be the case:

Falling commodity prices; Commodity prices have fallen across the board and continue to do so.  This should help inflationary pressures moving forwards.

The broadest level of investment opportunity for past 20 years; Share prices of many companies have had a tough time over the past 12 months and higher risk areas particularly so.  This gives rise to some incredible opportunities for future growth with careful consideration.

Continued high levels of employment; Perhaps there is more to this than the headline figures show, but this offers a continued level of resilience to the consumer in the current climate.

Leicester City signing a right winger; Maybe this is one may go unfulfilled, but we can all dream.

Prospect of falling inflation this year; Falling energy costs will lead to a reduction in headline inflation this year.  Core inflation will perhaps be more stubborn, but we could well see inflation more than half of current levels by the end of this year.

There’s another one; Friday 13th that is, falling in October. Well, we’ve only had one in each of the last two years!

Renewable energy; Although the sun is a rare site at present last Wednesday the UK generated 88% of its energy needs from renewable energy and 50% of the total over the whole week solely from wind power. 

Higher investment yields; Although central banks globally have increased interest rates and, additionally for the UK, the fall out from the mini budget has meant that lower risk assets are now offering significantly increased yields.  Essentially, lower risk assets now offer more opportunity than for many years.

The Kings Coronation; Will provide us with an additional bank holiday in 2023.

Falling fuel prices; Brent crude is now around $78 a barrel broadly the same price as it was back in January 2022 with fuel prices gradually falling at the forecourts.

The easing of supply chain problems; As supply chains continue to realign following the Covid pandemic assisted by the re-opening of the Chinese economy to an extent, goods are likely to become more available, again easing inflationary pressures.

Falling borrowing costs; This last week saw several UK lenders reduce their mortgage interest rates.  A welcome relief for many who will have fixed term mortgage deals coming to a end over the next few months

It’s a Friday! so, we can hopefully now all enjoy a weekend whatever we are doing.

Hopefully, the above provides enough of a reason to be cheerful even if you feel a slight unease with the 13th day of the month being a Friday and you can continue to…