Schroders profit dips in first half even as assets rise July 30, 2020 Schroders today posted a 10 per cent fall in profit before tax and exceptional items in the first half of the year amid rising outflows in mutual funds and a contraction in revenue margins. Britain’s largest-listed fund manager by market capitalisation reported £306.2m in profit before tax and exceptional items for the first half of [...]
Does Covid-19 mark the beginning of the end for cash? July 29, 2020 | City Talk Many European countries were already moving away from cash transactions and the pandemic will only speed up this trend. The Covid-19 crisis has changed our daily lives in multiple ways and accelerated a number of trends that were already in place. For many of us, one obvious change is that the need to use cash [...]
Q&A: Why electric trucks could help EU meet CO2 targets July 29, 2020 | City Talk To meet new EU regulations on CO2 emissions for trucks, manufacturers will have to ramp up production of battery electric trucks and then hydrogen fuel cell trucks. Trucks emit between 6-7% of total CO2 emissions globally. The European Union (EU) introduced its first ever CO2 emissions regulations for heavy duty trucks last year. This followed [...]
What has driven stock market returns and what could drive them in the future? July 29, 2020 | City Talk Increasing valuations have been the main driver of stock market returns since Covid-19, but when we look over the past five years, we find a different set of drivers. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, markets have climbed a wall of worry, despite cuts to corporate earnings, forecasts and dividends. Increasing valuations have been the main [...]
28 months later: are European equities back on investors’ radar? July 29, 2020 | City Talk European equity flows turned positive in June for the first time in 28 months – we look at what might be reviving investor interest in the asset class. It’s been a tough couple of years for pan-European equities. A combination of political worries, including Brexit, and weak economic growth means many investors have shunned the [...]
Why investing sustainably can get you better income and better outcomes July 23, 2020 | City Talk For those that remain sceptical, we show that an integrated ESG approach can improve income stability. Not only is it possible to combine income investing and sustainable investing, we believe you can actually make your income more resilient, smooth and reliable by investing sustainably. Many things have changed for investors in a post Covid-19 world, but [...]
Johanna Kyrklund: Are markets paying enough attention? July 20, 2020 | City Talk Like home-schooled children during the Covid crisis, markets seem to be struggling to pay attention for long. For parents, one of the most difficult parts of lockdown has been home-schooling their children. My social media feed has been full of people tearing their hair out as long-forgotten concepts such as subordinate clauses or trigonometry have [...]
What are the long-term prospects for healthcare investing post Covid-19? July 16, 2020 | City Talk The pandemic has shone a spotlight on healthcare but what happens when a vaccine is found? We asked Schroders’ investment experts for their views on the sector’s long-term prospects. The Covid-19 crisis has hurt most economic sectors this year. As of 30 June, healthcare was one of only three sectors to post positive year-to-date returns [...]
Is the office an analogue product in a digital world? July 15, 2020 | City Talk Reports of the death of the office are premature, but change is coming as Covid-19 means more of us will work from home in the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst, accelerating a number of global trends. One of the most significant of these is working from home, a trend which is [...]
What are “accidental savers” doing with their surprise savings? July 14, 2020 | City Talk Lockdown restrictions have curbed spending, resulting in higher savings in the UK. Some of this has found its way into the financial markets; actively managed responsible investment funds have been the biggest beneficiaries. The words “accidental” and “saver” don’t often appear in the same sentence together. Saving usually takes some effort and requires sacrifices and [...]