Bank of England raises interest rates – are there more hikes to come? November 2, 2017 | City Talk The Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy committee (MPC) has raised interest rates for the first time since November 2007, in a move that has been well-flagged in recent months. The policy interest rate has been raised from a record low of 0.25 percent back to 0.50 percent, where it sat for most of the [...]
Control Brexit and nationalism concerns by investing globally November 1, 2017 | City Talk As UK investors await the final Brexit plans, it may be time to consider the benefits of geographic diversification. What a difference a year makes. Last June, as Brits voted to leave the EU, many viewed it as a time to shed UK assets. Sterling fell to multi-decade lows versus the dollar and other currencies. [...]
Positive surprise as protectionism fears not bearing out November 1, 2017 | City Talk Despite Trump election and Brexit, free trade appears to be growing stronger Investors who worried that recent protectionist sentiment would slow free trade can breathe easier. Over the last 18+ months, Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, nationalist sentiment in Europe and other developments sparked investor fear of protectionism and trade wars. Yet free trade remains alive [...]
Think locally, invest globally: Why Brexit isn’t the calamity some fear November 1, 2017 | City Talk A year after the Brexit vote, the UK has managed to avoid a bear market and recession. Still, global diversification remains a key tool for investors. Fifteen months after Brits voted to leave the EU, the UK government is slowly ploughing ahead with Brexit. Invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March was the [...]
European stocks stand up to terrorism November 1, 2017 | City Talk London. Manchester. Brussels. Paris. Nice. Copenhagen. Stockholm. Normandy. These are just a few of the European cities struck by terrorists in recent years. Attacks are sadly becoming increasingly frequent, and whenever they occur, people speculate about the potential market and economic impact. It is impossible to know where or when terrorists will strike next, but [...]
Positive surprise as protectionism fears not bearing out November 1, 2017 | City Talk Despite Trump election and Brexit, free trade appears to be growing stronger Investors who worried that recent protectionist sentiment would slow free trade can breathe easier. Over the last 18+ months, Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, nationalist sentiment in Europe and other developments sparked investor fear of protectionism and trade wars. Yet free trade remains alive [...]
Control Brexit and nationalism concerns by investing globally November 1, 2017 | City Talk As UK investors await the final Brexit plans, it may be time to consider the benefits of geographic diversification. What a difference a year makes. Last June, as Brits voted to leave the EU, many viewed it as a time to shed UK assets. Sterling fell to multi-decade lows versus the dollar and other currencies. [...]
Why cutting through noise is a sound investment strategy October 31, 2017 | City Talk Noise is the enemy of information – a premise that is especially true for investing. Cutting through the noise and listening to what matters is critical for those who want to invest with clarity and not be distracted by sounds which are irrelevant to their objective. Business TV channels, financial publications and online news and [...]
The investment decision that haunts us most October 31, 2017 | City Talk With the clocks going back this Sunday we got to talking about the one hour from our lives we would want to have over again if we could. From there, it was but a short jump to the single investment decision we wish we could take back or, given Halloween is just around the corner, [...]
Half of all UK workers won’t have enough money to retire at state pension age October 27, 2017 Half of workers in the UK won’t have enough money to retire when they reach state pension age, according to research by Age UK. The survey of nearly 1,000 over-40s, found nearly 8m people aged 40 to 64 will not be able to retire when they hit state pension age, which currently stands at 65. [...]