Toscafund is determined to have the last word in spat with Speedy Hire September 1, 2016 The carousel of increasingly aggressive shareholder circulars between activist investor Toscafund and the board of Speedy Hire is still spinning. The two parties are currently skirmishing ahead of an extraordinary general meeting set for next Friday (9 September) where Tosca intends to again call for changes among the top brass at the firm – something Speedy is dead set against. After Speedy [...]
Star fund manager Neil Woodford lambasts “frustratingly rife” short-termism in the City September 1, 2016 Legendary fund manager Neil Woodford has condemned “frustratingly rife” short-termism in the City, lending his support to a stinging criticism of executive pay levels and a failure of investors to hold management teams to account. The founder of Woodford Investment Management has bemoaned fund managers who “do not behave or think like owners, because they [...]
Pension or property: Which is the better option for your retirement? August 31, 2016 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane drew ire from the pensions industry for the second time this year, when he claimed that property was a better investment option for retirement than a pension in an interview with The Sunday Times this weekend. “It ought to be pensions but it’s almost certainly property,” Haldane said. [...]
European exchange-traded funds and products top $539bn in July August 30, 2016 Assets under management at Europe's exchange-traded funds and products were at all-time highs at the end of July after being boosted by strong inflows and market gains. Growing by $9.4bn (£7.2bn) in July, assets totalled $539bn and were spread across over two thousand different European-listed exchanged-traded funds (ETF) and products (ETP). ETFs are usually index-tracking instruments whose value is linked to the [...]
Emerging markets have enjoyed a real comeback, but as expectations of another Fed rate hike grow, can it last long? August 30, 2016 At the beginning of the year, things looked dismal for emerging markets. Investor optimism had soured over the previous three to four years, thanks to a cocktail of tumbling commodity prices, a strong dollar and a Chinese slowdown which had shaken confidence in the sustainability of their growth. Nine months later, and the mood has shifted [...]
Will September be a particularly cruel month for investors? August 30, 2016 David Buik, market commentator at Panmure Gordon, says Yes. As a committed Brexiteer, it is imperative to be eternally optimistic, particularly in the face of hysterical Remain financial forecasting which emanated from the establishment, encouraged by a slew of eminent economists. After Brexit, further quantitative easing and a rate cut were quickly introduced, which resulted in [...]
From Italy to Trump, why are investors so complacent about political risk? August 30, 2016 As Theresa May plotted with her Cabinet this weekend about the country’s plan for Brexit, doomsday-predictors should have every reason to be amazed at where asset prices sit today. Funnily enough, market-savvy Brexiteers I spoke to in the aftermath of the vote were surprised but sanguine, saying markets always overreact. Clearly in the short term [...]
Fund Brexodus slows in July after “quite extraordinary” investor outflows in EU referendum month August 25, 2016 Outflows from the UK fund industry continued in July, but slowed after a “quite extraordinary” investor exodus in June, the month of the EU referendum. Net outflows totalled £1bn in July – an improvement on £3.5bn in June – according to the Investment Association. The strongest outflows last month came from equity funds, £2.2bn, but [...]
City A.M. Unregulated podcast: Millennials to millionaires – how to get started with investing August 24, 2016 This week's podcast takes a look at how even millennials, with their meagre savings, can become millionaires – or at least try. Michelle McGrade, chief investment officer at TD Direct Investing, and Pete Matthew, host of the Meaningful Money podcast, discuss the first steps into investing, and outline the best ways for millennials to make [...]
Silver’s performance has been stellar this year, but will loose monetary policy and industrial demand allow it to maintain its surge? August 23, 2016 As Team GB celebrates second place on the Rio medals table, silver has seldom looked so good. It would appear that investors agree. Since the start of the year, the price of gold has risen over 25 per cent, but silver has outpaced it, rising by more than 30 per cent. It’s now at $18.89 [...]