Bonus season: If you’re thinking of spending it on property, here are the top London hotspots you should be looking at January 27, 2017 It’s bonus season in the City and now you’ve got the enviable task of deciding what to spend it on. Historically low interest rates means putting the whole lot into an ISA isn’t quite as appealing as it once was. But house price growth particularly in the outer boroughs – Newham, Havering, Brent and Croydon [...]
Some peace at last? Alliance Trust to buy back activist investor Elliott’s shares January 27, 2017 Relief at last for Alliance Trust’s management team: the company announced this morning it has reached a deal to buy its shares back from activist shareholder Elliott. The US hedge fund became a shareholder in the investment trust in 2011, and has, to put it mildly, shaken things up a little. The drama peaked in [...]
Wealth manager St James’s Place reports strong end to 2016, despite political surprises January 26, 2017 FTSE 100-listed wealth manager St James’s Place reported a net inflow of funds of £2.1bn in the last quarter, despite challenging market conditions. The figures In the three months to 31 December 2016, St James’s Place said its group funds under management total reached £75.3bn, up 28 per cent over the year. Read more: Wealth [...]
Will ‘value investors’ win in 2017? January 24, 2017 | City Talk Value investing, the discipline made famous by the legendary investor Benjamin Graham in the 1930s and 1940s, fell out of favour after the global financial crisis. Investors have instead preferred to pay a premium for more dependable stocks rather than back those unloved by the market. That trend may be turning around. What is value [...]
The year of the stock picker: Which value shares look underpriced in 2017? January 24, 2017 We've heard it before. When there is greater volatility and more dispersion in the market, canny investors should be able to beat the index. The great rotation in equities which markets are anticipating due to looser fiscal policy and higher interest rates under Donald Trump is filling active managers with optimism that they can use [...]
Undercover investigation reveals raft of failings from data-selling firms January 21, 2017 An undercover investigation has revealed the miniscule cost of buying personal information from data-selling firms. Posing as a would-be pension scammer, consumer group Which managed to access details of members of the public for as little as 4p. The investigation also highlighted significant failings by data-selling firms in undertaking sufficient due diligence on who it is [...]
The honeymoon will soon end for Donald Trump and markets’ unbridled optimism will follow it January 20, 2017 American Presidents enjoy a honeymoon period. It begins with their victory speech and ends a few weeks after their inauguration. It is hard to imagine much of a grace period for a personality as incendiary as Donald Trump, who is inaugurated today, or that investors' euphoria towards his economic policies can last. The Trump trade [...]
Britain’s investors have a responsibility to help close society’s divides January 20, 2017 I feel a touch fortunate that my Davos debut has come during such a fascinating period of change. The World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Switzerland, which ends today, has long opined on the state of political, social and economic affairs. Discussions this week have seemed to possess an elevated sense of urgency. At the [...]
How the Trump rally affected stock market valuations January 19, 2017 | City Talk Stockmarkets rarely rally in the face of political and economic uncertainty. The combination of Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, the return of inflation and prospect of higher interest rates would normally undermine demand for shares. But instead, stockmarkets have rallied with some indices hitting all-time highs. Investors expect his policies to reinvigorate the US economy, and [...]
Why the Bank of England could turn more hawkish in 2017 January 17, 2017 Suppose the UK had voted to stay in the EU. Would the Bank of England have hiked its benchmark interest rate by now? Yes, probably. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the central bank aggressively expanded monetary policy in August, shortly after the UK voted for Brexit. The Bank's efforts, in conjunction with Theresa May’s ship-steadying [...]