Safe-haven stock plays, like the high-yielding utilities and telecoms, were the flavour of the day Monday, while investors pulled back from financials and tech stocks.

Bernanke helped cool things down temporarily, saying it’s still too soon to tell if the recovery will last. “We still have some way to go before we can be assured that the recovery will be self-sustaining,” Bernanke said in prepared remarks to the Economic Club of Washington.

Today in the UK of note is industrial output data and manufacturing production data, and later this evening Nationwide consumer confidence for November.  Tomorrow is the pre budge report, and the Chancellor has warned of tough times ahead, saying: “On Wednesday I will set out what I think we need to do. That will involve some very difficult choices. It will mean making public spending much tighter.”

The UK market and the European markets are currently down about 0.2%. US futures markets are pointing to a slightly negative start to trading with the Dow opening down 7 points.

© Brooks Macdonald Asset Management 2009

Sources: Reuters: BBC, Bloomberg, Lawshare, Deutsche Bank (db), Proquote, Financial Times, Wall Street

Journal, CLSA, Sharescope, Market News, Capital Economics, CNBC, Wikipedia.

Please note this report provides a guide to some of the relevant areas that individual investors should consider discussing with an authorised adviser in relation to their specific circumstances, it does not constitute individual advice. As a result no action should be taken or refrained from being taken as a result of its content.