Could Melbourne’s house price boom derail its global city status? July 13, 2017 | City Talk The latest version of the Schroders Global Cities index was published last month. The index uses a number of factors to identify the most economically vibrant cities. Melbourne was ranked 8th. This post from the Global Cities blog focuses on the city’s outlook… As we found on our recent visit, Melbourne boasts an enviable wealth [...]
20 years on, could the Asian financial crisis be repeated? July 12, 2017 | City Talk The Asian financial crisis of 1997 was a traumatic dislocation for financial markets that I experienced first hand, working as a fund manager for Schroders in Singapore. The fallout was shocking. The Indonesian economy, for instance, shrunk by 85% in US dollar terms during the aftermath, a contraction unthinkable today. Twenty years on, the pressing [...]
Why interest rates predictions have suddenly shifted July 11, 2017 | City Talk Pressure is building for interest rates to be raised in the UK following a surge in inflation to a five-year high. Why are there fresh calls for rate rise? The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) is tasked with keeping inflation at around 2% in the years ahead. But the consumer prices index (CPI) [...]
Why value investors would respect Nelson Mandela but buy Seretse Khama July 10, 2017 | City Talk This month marks different anniversaries of the births of two of post-colonial Africa’s greatest leaders – Nelson Mandela and Seretse Kharma. Mandela, who was born on 18 July 1918, you will almost inevitably be aware of but perhaps not Kharma, who was born on 1 July 1921. Indeed, if you have heard of him at [...]
How geopolitics trumps economics July 7, 2017 | City Talk Earlier this week I attended the "Athens Seminar", an economic and political round table discussion that has been hosted annually since 1979. I thought it would be of interest to share some of the main takeaways, as they help understand the current environment. Since the global financial crisis, economic and financial issues have dominated this [...]
Seven investment charts that caught our eye in June July 6, 2017 | City Talk Schroders Investment Communications team highlights charts they found interesting this month. Mid-year markets Schroders' team of economists put together a handy summary of how various asset classes and markets have performed as we reach the middle of the year. Looking at broad asset classes, equities have been the best to be invested in, while commodities [...]
Want to be productive in the office? Work fewer hours July 6, 2017 I received a press release the other day, which claims that half of the office workers in London are unproductive for up to an hour every day. If true, this would be excellent news, as it would mean that we are lucky enough to operate at peak level for at least seven hours every day. [...]
The pros and cons of crowdfunding July 6, 2017 People are divided about crowdfunding. While many investors and businesses see it as invaluable, it often comes with a number of caveats which shouldn’t be ignored. Equity and debt-based crowdfunding methods are often used by entrepreneurs looking to start or develop their business. However, they differ in that equity-based lets you swap money for shares [...]
How many of Amazon’s peers from the dotcom boom exist today? July 4, 2017 | City Talk In March 2000, a US financial magazine listed Amazon among 207 unprofitable listed internet businesses, most of whom had worryingly small cash reserves. More than four-fifths no longer exist. “Investors must never forget that for every tech start-up success story, hundreds of other such businesses will have failed.” So we wrote on our Value Perspective [...]
The clock is ticking for traditional wealth managers July 4, 2017 | City Talk We need a new approach to wealth management. With the FCA turning its attention to the sector, pressure is mounting on the traditional culture of high fees and indifferent service. How many of us either enjoy, or are comfortable with, managing our own money? Well, that depends on what we mean. For many of us, [...]
