April was a particularly volatile month for markets, amid different developments around US president Donald Trump's tariff agenda.
Trump kicked off the month by announcing sweeping tariffs on 2 April, which he dubbed "Liberation Day". A week later, Trump then announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for many US trading partners.
However, tensions escalated between the US and China, with back-and-forth moves on trade between the two countries keeping concerns around the economic impact of tariffs in focus.
Towards the end of the month both Washington and Beijing appeared to soften their stance on trade negotiations, which provided a boost to markets, though uncertainty around if and when a deal will be reached is still a concern.
The end of April also marked the end of the first hundred days of Trump's second term. According to Capital Economics, the US stock market and dollar fared worse in this period than in the first 100 days of any other presidential term since 1980.
While a rebound in stocks towards the end of April, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is still down 4.7% year-to-date.
“April was a tough month for investors given Donald Trump’s proposed trade tariffs," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Interactive Investor, adding that investors' "desire for safe havens helped gold rise by close to 5% during the month."
Here's more detail on which investments proved most popular last months across UK platforms Interactive Investor, Hargreaves Lansdown, Robinhood (HOOD) and Bestinvest.
Oil prices have fallen over concerns that trade war will lead to a recession and weigh on global demand for fuel.
"That impacted heavily on oil major BP (BP.L), bringing its shares back into the sharp investor focus," said Bowman. "BP shares fell by almost 20% over the month, further hindered by concerns for group strategic direction going forward."
BP's profits nearly halved in the first quarter, according to results released last week. The company reported an underlying replacement cost profit — a key metric used as a proxy for net profit — of $1.38bn (£1bn), falling short of the $1.53bn forecast by analysts polled by LSEG. The figure also marks a 49% decline from the $2.7bn posted in the same period last year.
Despite the earnings miss, BP went ahead with a $750m share buyback in the first quarter and announced plans to repurchase a further $750m worth of shares in the second quarter.
Since then, reports have circulated that rival oil major Shell (SHEL.L) was weighing up whether to make a takeover bid for BP.
Chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) appeared on all four platforms' lists of most popular stocks last month. The stock is down nearly 16% year-to-date, with April proving to be yet another choppy month for Nvidia's share price, suggesting that investors continued to see volatility as an opportunity to buy the dip.
"The chip behemoth has found itself caught in the US-China crossfire and it seems the bigger it gets the more scrutiny from Washington it draws," said Dan Lane, lead analyst at Robinhood UK.
"Investors are clearly hoping any measures designed to curb sales to China are either short-lived or NVIDIA is able to develop new products ... to overcome near-term hurdles."
Founder and CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang. ·REUTERS / Reuters
Nvidia said in mid-April that it would take a $5.5bn hit from the US government's controls on its semiconductor exports to China. The chipmaker also said that it will produce up to $500bn of AI infrastructure in the US within the next four years. This comes as companies look to onshore more of their business in the US in light of tariffs.
A mixed bag of earnings releases from fellow "Magnificent 7" tech behemoths capped off the month, with investors now eagerly awaiting Nvidia's results on 28 May.
Financial services firm Legal & General (LGEN.L) appeared on the lists of Interactive Investor, Hargreaves Lansdown and Bestinvest.
Legal & General (L&G) produced results in line with expectations in March but boosted its dividend and buybacks, so it appears as though investors took the opportunity to invest when shares divided in the days following Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement.
In its full-year results, L&G said it planned to return over £5bn to shareholders over the next three years, through dividends and buybacks.
The company revealed a 5% hike in its dividend and plans to grow dividend per share by 2% per annum out to 2027, as well as announcing a £500m buyback.
Shares rose last week, after the company reported a strong start to the year in a quarterly trading update.
Despite uncertainty related to tariffs, Rolls-Royce maintained its guidance of £2.7bn to £2.9bn in underlying operating profit and £2.7bn to £2.9bn in free cash flow.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) is another Mag 7 stock that remained among the most bought stocks by UK investors in April.
"Tesla investors stuck behind Elon Musk during the month, as he announced he would be stepping back from his US government role to refocus on the company," said Robinhood UK's Lane.
"There are a few challenges ahead of the Tesla boss, not least a somewhat tarnished brand image, growing competition from Chinese EV maker BYD (1211.HK), and disappointing Q1 earnings.
Demonstrators continue weekly protest rallies outside of a Tesla dealership to call to boycotting Tesla cars and opposing many actions taken by US president Donald Trump and Tesla owner Elon Musk on 3 May 2025 in Pasadena, California. ·David McNew via Getty Images
Shares in Tesla rose after CEO Musk said he was going to spend less time in Washington, working on Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, and more time at his electric vehicle company.
Tesla's first quarter earnings missed estimates, with revenue of $19.34bn compared to expectations of $21.43bn, according to Bloomberg consensus. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.27 also came in below estimates of $0.44.
Kyle Caldwell, funds and investment education editor at Interactive Investor, said that investors were "sizing up both growth and income opportunities in April, a month when US stock markets made a partial recovery from the sharp falls occurring over the past couple of months."
“Since US president Donald Trump pressed the pause button on the implementation of tariffs for 90 days for countries excluding China, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen from their lows," he said.
“While no one knows if this market recovery will be sustained, many investors are sticking to their long-term plan."
Passive funds dominated both Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown's lists. Investors appeared to be continuing to bet on the market momentum behind some of the world's biggest companies, with Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS exchange-traded fund (VUAA.L) and UBS S&P 500 Index (0P000147T9.L) among the most-bought funds, along with other S&P 500 (^GSPC) and other "world" passive funds.
In addition, Interactive Investor's list also pointed to some efforts to balance market risk amid volatility. Royal London's Short Term Money Market (0P0000NRQO.L) fund, which is 82% invested in cash, and the iShares Physical Gold (SGLN.L) exchange-traded commodity (ETC), were among the top funds.
