The Eurozone is at risk of renewed crisis in 2019 – and this time it’s all about Italy January 29, 2019 After a dismal 2018, December brought further bad news for the Eurozone in the form of the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator. Despite hopes that last year would see an escape from the ongoing repercussions of the 2011-2013 euro crisis, confidence across sectors has taken a hit, with only retail trade remaining a bright spot. [...]
Forget Brexit – the British economy is running out of money January 17, 2019 The media circus around Brexit is currently the focus of virtually all economic commentary on the UK. This fixation is so all-consuming that we risk missing another real threat to the economy: the dramatic slowdown in the growth rate of broad money This refers to the total amount of money in the economy. There is [...]
Will this be a year for investors to fear? January 9, 2019 A new year always offers the chance of a reset, of evolved thoughts, ideas and insights. Even though many will be pleased to see the back of 2018, numerous investors are beginning this year with new concerns: an oncoming recession. This fear seems suddenly rampant among many of my colleagues in the industry. But these fears [...]
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 [...]
We have paved the way for the next financial crisis December 6, 2018 Optimists believe that the last decade of roiling financial crisis and austerity is behind us, and that current fears of trade war, Brexit, populism, and market crashes are overblown. They hope for a global economy poised for many years of growth, increasing personal wealth and prosperity, and political stability. Sadly, hope is never a strategy. Realists, [...]
DEBATE: Has the EU overstepped the mark by rejecting Italy’s budget? October 25, 2018 Has the EU overstepped the mark by rejecting Italy’s budget? Matthew Elliott, senior political adviser to Shore Capital, says YES. From the moment Britain’s Brexit referendum was announced in 2013, the EU started to moderate its most overt interventionist instincts, minimising Eurozone problems through quantitative easing, and restricting its tendency to meddle in the affairs [...]
Blame the bank: How finance caused today’s housing crisis October 18, 2018 Home ownership is increasingly out of the reach of younger adults in the UK. The share of those aged 25-34 who own their home fell from 55 per cent in 1997 to 35 per cent in 2017, according the Institute of Fiscal Studies. A decade of stagnant wage growth means that the gradual house price [...]
Debate: Are British high street banks a good opportunity for investors at the moment? September 26, 2018 Debate: Are British high street banks a good opportunity for investors at the moment? Yes – Richard Buxton is chief executive and a fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors. As a long-term investor in UK banks, the most recent reporting season came as a welcome relief. The litany of conduct charges and regulatory [...]
Bank of England holds monetary policy unchanged amid “greater uncertainty”on Brexit September 13, 2018 The Bank of England today left monetary policy unchanged amid “greater uncertainty” in markets on the Brexit process and a worsening global trade outlook. The Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) raised its main interest rate, bank rate, on 2 August, in only the second increase in the decade since the financial crisis began, but minutes [...]
European Central Bank “on track” to complete its €1 trillion quantitative easing programme August 13, 2015 The European Central Bank (ECB) is on course to complete its €1.1 trillion (£780bn) euro money printing programme, according to details of its most recent meeting. The ECB downplayed the risk to growth from recent economic turbulence in Greece and China, insisting its outlook remained broadly unchanged. Bank officials pointed to a recovery in bank [...]