Bank shares and stress tests: the value investor’s verdict December 8, 2016 The Bank of England’s latest stress tests of the UK banking system attracted many column inches of space in the newspapers last week. The aim was to calculate whether these institutions would have enough capital to withstand certain grim scenarios. Moving away from some of the inflammatory headlines, it is worth looking in more detail [...]
OPEC’s celebrated and unexpected deal has papered over the market’s cracks December 8, 2016 The outcome of the Vienna meeting came as a pleasant surprise to oil markets. A deal had been hammered out and, despite the resistance, OPEC and Non-OPEC producers had agreed to cut a total of 1.8mbpd. Saudi Arabia − suffering from a major dent in its economy− has agreed to the largest cut. OPEC producers [...]
Trading platforms must bet on a stable outcome December 8, 2016 Spreadbetters experienced the most modest of recoveries yesterday, with shares in IG Group gaining nearly six per cent, Plus500 climbing around three per cent and CMC Markets edging up just 1.3 per cent. Investors, given 24-hours to reflect on the previous day’s bloodbath, clearly did not find reason to significantly alter their view of the [...]
The world is about to reach peak diamond with supply set to sparkle before entering a deficit after 2019 December 7, 2016 Forget peak oil, the world is about to reach peak diamond – and it's coming soon. Global rough diamond production will reach a pinnacle in three years before entering into a supply deficit by 2020, according to research from consulting group GlobalData. Rough diamond production is set to rise from 127m carats last year to 134.5m carats [...]
The pound’s fall is pushing the FTSE 100 towards its best day since Trump’s election December 7, 2016 Healthy gains for banking and mining stocks and a sharp downturn in the pound are driving the UK’s FTSE 100 index to its best performance since Donald Trump's election victory last month. The index had gained over 91 points (a rise of 1.35 per cent) at the time of writing to reach 6,871.29. Banks stocks shared in [...]
Four investment myths on the rise December 7, 2016 | City Talk The world of investing constantly changes and that means yesterday’s wisdom can soon become today’s myths. Or in some cases, the story moves along and some investors haven’t quite kept up. Your own biases and assumption can pose a danger to wealth generation (you can test this at Schroders Income IQ). So here we run [...]
Why do some nations hold more gold? December 7, 2016 As an asset, gold is entirely speculative. It provides no income or dividends, and has few industrial or medical applications. Investors buy it only in the confidence that humans’ peculiar and enduring fascination with the lustrous metal will ensure its value through the decades and centuries to come. Unlike other securities, its price is not dictated [...]
Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude prices slide as production in Russia and Opec member states booms December 6, 2016 A rise in crude output in most major oil-producing regions ahead of a landmark curb to production has driven down the price of the black stuff today. Production among the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to another record high in November, according to a Reuters survey, reaching 34.19m barrels per day (bpd), up [...]
Contracts for difference: What are they and what’s the FCA’s problem with them? December 6, 2016 It's been a tumultuous day so far for spreadbetting firms after financial regulators announced plans to clamp down on the retail trading of contracts for differences (CFD) products. Platform investors ran for the hills in the wake of the news: the likes of IG Markets, Plus 500 and CMC Markets have had between a quarter and [...]
What you need to know about the world’s biggest IPO December 6, 2016 Sometime in the next 12 to 24 months, the world will see probably see the biggest IPO in history, and one that may remain unparalleled for a century or more – the IPO of Saudi oil giant Aramco. Aramco says it has more than 260 billion barrels of recoverable reserves – 10 times the level [...]