Long-running historical trends often provide me with profitable short-term trading ideas. But nothing lasts forever in the world of investing. I constantly search for newly emerging trends or signs that an existing trend has run out of steam.

The month ahead provides good examples in both camps. Younger investors might not be aware that April was the year’s best month for much of the past century. The trend reached its peak from 1970 to 1997 when the All Share index rose in 25 out of 27 years, a 93 per cent success rate. In the world of investing, it does not get much better than this.