Amazon: Is this the end for ‘old-school’ retailers? August 22, 2017 | City Talk If you are a regular reader of the financial press, you could be forgiven for thinking some kind of corporate serial killer is currently on the loose. On an almost daily basis, fresh obituaries appear for retail businesses and there is a strong consensus on who is to blame – the global phenomenon that is [...]
Stay the course to meet your goals August 15, 2017 | City Talk Market uncertainties often prompt investors to make knee-jerk reactions to events. A longer term attitude is what’s needed, says Netwealth’s Iain Barnes Every generation thinks that they live through unprecedented times. There certainly seem to be enough extraordinary issues to worry about currently, from political gyrations to the longstanding economic worries dating from the start [...]
What Alan Shearer can teach us about QE August 15, 2017 | City Talk What a versatile chap Alan Shearer is turning out to be – record goal scorer in the English Premier league, football pundit for the BBC and now The Value Perspective’s favourite go-to illustration when explaining financial concepts. A couple of weeks back, we learnt what he had to teach us about inflation and now he [...]
What Alan Shearer has to teach us about inflation August 4, 2017 | City Talk So who are the world’s three biggest spenders on defence these days? That’s right – the US, China and … Manchester City. Boom, boom. Yes, we may still be a week away from the start of the 2017/18 English Premier League season but of course it has been generating back-page headlines for weeks now thanks [...]
These six charts caught our attention in July August 2, 2017 | City Talk Safe as houses In the UK, house price growth began to slow noticeably last year when stamp duty on buy-to-let and second homes increased. The slowdown continued after the announcement that the UK would be leaving the EU. Perhaps surprisingly, London has been hit harder than the rest of the UK. UK growth is sluggish [...]
The global financial crisis 10 years on: six charts that tell the story July 31, 2017 | City Talk It is hard to believe but it is 10 years since the start of the global financial crisis. Triggered by a collapse in the US housing market it caused the deepest recession in living memory and the near-collapse of the financial system. Banks failed, government institutions were bailed out, stockmarkets crashed and countries had to [...]
When dividends can be harmful to a company’s health July 26, 2017 | City Talk Pearson’s self-declared ambition to be seen as “the world’s learning company” came a little more into focus this month as the former FT owner offloaded a 22% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH). The sale – to PRH’s co-owner, German media giant Bertelsmann – alongside a recapitalisation of the business, raised some $1bn (£767m) and [...]
The FTSE in 2017: six charts that tell the story so far July 25, 2017 | City Talk The FTSE 100, 250 and All-Share indices have all made strong gains and reached record highs in the first half of 2017. The strong performance of London-listed shares is somewhat surprising given the backdrop – June’s snap general election arguably left the government in a weaker position going into Brexit negotiations, while household finances are [...]
‘Personalised pricing’ could soon make it cheaper to buy your lunch at 3pm July 21, 2017 | City Talk These days, consumers have generally come to terms with the idea the price they are asked to pay for, say, a train ticket or hotel room can fluctuate – and sometimes quite markedly – depending on when they make the purchase. It would presumably still come as a shock, however, if their local supermarket charged [...]
Climate Progress Dashboard forecasts global warming of more than 4°C July 21, 2017 | City Talk Global temperatures are on course to rise by up to 4°C, twice as far as safe levels, according to a new Climate Progress Dashboard. The unique dashboard tracks the progress governments and industries are making towards meeting the 2°C temperature rise commitment global leaders made in the Paris Agreement, which came into force in November. [...]