Findel says it has backing of major shareholder in blow to Ashley bid April 1, 2019 Online shopping specialist Findel claimed today that it had the support of its second largest shareholder, as it looks to see off a takeover bid from Sports Direct. In the latest blow to retail tycoon Mike Ashley, the British home shopping company published a letter of support from Schroders, which controls an 18.85 per cent [...]
14 years of returns: history’s lesson for investors March 29, 2019 | City Talk The temptation among investors is to stick to what you know. That is no bad thing. It is a strategy championed by successful investment pioneers such as Warren Buffett, a famous devotee of stocks. It can work, when the market is rising and you have picked the right asset. However, it’s also important for investors [...]
Cutting the ‘Hemline Index’ down to size March 25, 2019 | City Talk Created by economist George Taylor just three years ahead of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, his theory of the on the so-called ‘Hemline Index’ holds that when share prices go up, so do hemlines. By the same token, during tougher economic periods, skirts and dresses get longer. The original thinking seems to have run that, [...]
Countdown to Brexit: three market indicators to watch March 22, 2019 | City Talk The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019. With politicians still struggling to agree the terms of withdrawal, investors in assets linked to the UK economy could be in for an uncertain time. UK investments have already underperformed their global peers since Britain voted to leave the EU, in [...]
The Brexit unknown: how the votes moved markets – and what next March 15, 2019 | City Talk British politics has faced a turbulent week: three nights of Brexit votes, a Spring Statement and a downgrade to economic growth. Market prices have swung on each twist as investors attempt to digest a constantly shifting set of possible outcomes. The single constant factor is uncertainty. With the scheduled exit date of 29 March looming, [...]
The poker player teaching investors to learn to accept uncertainty as a fact of life March 13, 2019 | City Talk Annie Duke is an American professional poker player turned business consultant. Her 2018 book Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions when You Don’t Have All the Facts aims to help people feel better about uncertainty – something of a fact of life for investors – and so make better decisions. Duke starts her book by [...]
AI’s success story still has a few missing chapters March 11, 2019 This article is not written by robots – we promise – but apparently the day when they could be is already upon us. We have just finished reading about the GPT-2 text generator which, according to this Spectator piece, “not only does text analysis and augmentation, but generates highly sophisticated content”. “It can effectively write articles,” [...]
How climate change claimed its first corporate casualty and the lesson for income investors March 8, 2019 | City Talk The last few decades have seen the perception gain ground in markets that a combination of cash generation and state backing makes utility companies pretty much shockproof as income-yielding investments. The fate of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which last week filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, should serve as a stark reminder no [...]
Schroders profits fall 15 per cent on weak investor sentiment March 7, 2019 Schroders saw profit drop 15 per cent last year as the asset management giant was hit by weaker investor sentiment due to political and economic uncertainty. The figures Profit before tax fell 15 per cent to £649.9m from £760.2m in the 12 months to the end of December last year. Read more: Schroders and Lloyds [...]
Five fintech trends to watch in 2019 March 6, 2019 | City Talk There’s no shortage of stories on how tech breakthroughs will transform financial services, from changing the way we interact with our personal finances to threatening entire banking institutions with disruption. It can be difficult to predict exactly what this landscape will look like in the next few years, but most seem to agree that the [...]