European equity markets rebounded strongly in April as trade war tensions eased and companies reported good growth on first quarter’s earnings. European equities gained between 5% and 7% during the month, offsetting the losses from the first quarter. International equity markets experienced fewer gains in April with a marginal decline in emerging markets. Government bond markets declined in April. The main British government bond benchmark lost 1% over the month, becoming slightly negative for the year. Realised volatilites in all regions declined further from the high levels seen in the first quarter. The S&P 500 index saw its realised volatility dropping to 15% at the end of April, below the historic average.