The FTSE 100 turned 40 this year, but it has been in the grip of a midlife crisis for a while now. Unfavourable comparisons with the US have called its relevance into question, and it has struggled to shift its stale, old-economy image.
The tables may turn, of course. Fears that US tech stocks are overhyped are certainly growing, and some of Wall Street’s biggest institutions are predicting that UK companies will shine in the era of Trump – at least compared with European ones.
In any case, though, investors who want exposure to the UK are poorly served by the FTSE 100. Over four-fifths of the index’s revenue is generated overseas, with members including an Indian multinational and a host of foreign miners. The presence of the latter adds a high degree of cyclicality and means weak commodity prices can drag the whole benchmark down, regardless of what is happening at home.