Why investors should beware increasingly unforgiving debt markets February 20, 2019 | City Talk Last year may have been a tricky one for US markets and investors but it was less so for the country’s businesses – at least, that is, to judge by the headline numbers on US companies filing for bankruptcy. According to figures from BankruptcyData.com, 58 companies totalling $52bn (£40bn) of assets declared themselves bankrupt in [...]
The ECB has been keeping zombie banks alive February 18, 2019 A decade after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, banks in the euro area have still not recovered. The Eurozone financial stock index is 65 per cent below the pre-crisis peak, whereas the US S&P financial index has come close to the pre-crisis level. The varying fates of financial institutions is due to the [...]
What does the year of the pig hold for stocks? History has some clues February 8, 2019 | City Talk Chinese stock markets are currently on holiday, with traders and consumers off celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Pig. But maybe equity markets across the world have something to celebrate, given the past performance of stocks during previous porcine-themed years. Statistically speaking, the Year of the Pig is a good one for stocks. [...]
The yield curve explained: is it predicting recession? February 6, 2019 | City Talk The yield curve has been a reliable predictor of US recessions over the last four decades. Each time the yield curve has inverted, the US economy has entered a downturn within 18 months. At the start of 2019, the curve is precipitously close to inverting again. The yield curve is the difference between the interest [...]
Will 2019 be the year gold regains its shine? January 28, 2019 | City Talk Gold had a mixed year in 2018, quickly peaking around $1,366 in January, but falling as low as $1,160 by August. For a while it seemed that the correlation between risk-off appetite and gold prices had broken, with the yellow metal overlooked even in times of heightened uncertainty. But after a 7% recovery since early [...]
Number of funds generating top returns plunges in torrid investment environment January 22, 2019 The number of funds generating top returns plunged in the fourth quarter during a torrid investment environment. Only six of the 1108 funds analysed achieved consistent top quartile returns in the fourth quarter of last year, representing 0.54 per cent, down from 19 funds in the previous quarter, according to BMO Global Asset Management. Read [...]
US inflation falls for first time since March as petrol prices drop January 11, 2019 Cheaper prices at the pumps pushed down US inflation for the first time in nine months in December. Statistics released today show the country’s consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.1 percentage points last month to 1.9 per cent, making December’s fall the first since March. However, when stripping out changes to the price of food [...]
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says he would refuse to step down if asked to by Trump January 4, 2019 US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has said he will not resign even if he is asked to by president Donald Trump. Powell responded “no” when asked whether he would resign if asked by the president at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting, CNBC reported. Powell was appointed by Trump, however the president has become [...]
Do markets have much to celebrate going into 2019? Analysts say anything is possible January 2, 2019 Is a rebound across global indices on the cards in 2019? Callum Keown asks top analysts for their predictions. AS 2019 begins, the year inherits a smorgasbord of risks and uncertainty from a tumultuous 2018, which was characterised by market volatility, global growth concerns and emerging market crises. US stock markets had their worst year in [...]
FTSE 100: These are the biggest winners and losers of 2018 January 2, 2019 THE UK market felt the impact of Brexit last year as politicians scrambled to reach a deal on Britain’s fast approaching departure from the European Union. With a vote on Theresa May’s heavily criticised deal not expected until mid-January, and as the government pumps billions into planning for a no-deal Brexit scenario, it seems unlikely [...]