Three reasons why gold is the best-peforming investment this year, and prices are going to keep on rising July 13, 2016 Gold has been one of the best-performing assets this year, and the weeks since Brexit was announced have pushed the precious metal higher. Gold is now priced at $1,373 an ounce, 22 per cent or $312 higher than when 2016 began. Of all the investment funds out there, gold funds are the five best performers. [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open July 13, 2016 US stock markets are at a record high, Opec production is at its highest level in eight years, and China's trade surplus narrowed. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time. US futures are pointing up ahead of the open, though are not looking quite as rosy as in recent sessions. The S&P [...]
Say what? Gold isn’t a good hedge against economic crashes, study says July 13, 2016 Anyone who snapped up gold to weather the recent market turmoil might want to stop reading now. New research suggests that the precious metal's widespread reputation as a safe-haven is not entirely correct. In fact, it's actually a poor punt for investors who want to protect their portfolios from economic meltdowns and stock market sell-offs. It comes just weeks after Britain's [...]
Japan has axed its GDP growth forecast for 2016 July 13, 2016 The Japanese economy is going to grow at a far slower pace than was previously thought this year, and no, it's not because everybody in the country is too busy playing Nintendo's Pokemon Go to get anything else done. The Japanese Cabinet Office has reduced its forecast to 0.9 per cent, down from the 1.7 per cent that was [...]
Welcome back: Aberdeen Asset Management lifts suspension on property fund July 13, 2016 Aberdeen Asset Management has today lifted the suspension on its property fund, one week after several asset managers put the brakes on their funds. Last week, Aberdeen announced that it would be suspending trades on its Aberdeen UK Property Fund and the Aberdeen UK Property Feeder Unit Trust to protect the value of the fund for [...]
Investors are prepared to take sub-zero yields in order to keep their money in safe haven German 10-year bunds July 13, 2016 Germany is getting ready to sell €5bn (£4.2bn) worth of 10-year bonds with a zero per cent coupon for the first time. Yields on the German bund have been dropping for weeks – and are now firmly in negative territory, hitting a record low of minus 0.2 per cent last week, which is why a negative yield [...]
Asian markets ride wave of relief towards 2016 peak July 13, 2016 Soothed investor nerves helped Asian shares climb towards a 2016 high today. It came as strong US growth prospects, as well as the appointment of a new prime minister in Britain, dampened worries about the Brexit vote. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan swelled as much as 0.4 per cent to 427.83 points, just [...]
Let’s not be misled by the Celtic Tiger’s roar July 13, 2016 Behold the Celtic Tiger! Ireland’s economy grew by a whopping 26.3 per cent last year according to the country’s official stats office, which put out revised numbers yesterday – that’s over 11 times as much as the UK, and more than three times faster than India’s widely-celebrated economic expansion. Incredible, eh? There’s a reason why [...]
History shows us why the next chancellor must tighten the belt July 13, 2016 On the face of it, the Brexiteers have a bit of explaining to do. A week before the vote, Boris Johnson dismissed fears about the value of sterling, and accused the governor of the Bank of England of “talking the economy down”. Yet the economy does seem to have stalled, property funds have had to suspend [...]
Bull or bear? FTSE’s in a bull market but bond investors are predicting gloom July 13, 2016 Investment markets are being driven by two trends, as bonds predict a gloomy outlook of low growth, but optimistic equities surge into a bull market. The FTSE 100 closed above 6,282 this week, a rise of more than 20 per cent from the low of 5,537 it touched on 11 February. A bull run’s a promising [...]