Can China really become carbon net zero by 2060? March 24, 2021 | City Talk At the UN General Assembly in September 2020 China’s President Xi Jinping pledged that the country would become net zero by 2060. This was a surprise move that has been hailed as a significant step forward in the global effort to address the Climate Crisis, given that China is responsible for around 30% of global [...]
Which lockdown habits could last a lifetime? March 22, 2021 | City Talk “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” This cautionary quip, attributed to Nobel Prize winning quantum physicist Niels Bohr, is applicable to anyone making forecasts, and particularly investors at this point in time. Stock markets will continue to be buffeted by daily newsflow around the pandemic. Successful investing in consumer stocks over the next [...]
How Asian stock markets shook off the pandemic March 10, 2021 | City Talk It seems ancient history now, but 2020 opened with a high degree of optimism for Asian markets. True, valuations were no more than reasonable given the share price gains of the previous twelve months, but conditions appeared favourable and there was a widespread consensus on a global economic recovery and a strong year ahead for [...]
Chasing “financial independence retire early” (FIRE): is it possible? March 8, 2021 | City Talk At what age are you planning to retire? For many the standard answer to this is “somewhere in my 60s or beyond”. Schroders analysis suggests that if you start saving for your retirement at age 20, you’ll need to save between 12% – 15% of your salary for 40 years to retire on 50% of your [...]
The investor’s dilemma: do sustainable funds need a digital detox? March 3, 2021 | City Talk Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma makes for uncomfortable viewing for users of social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube or Twitter. i.e. pretty much all of us. And as a sustainability specialist who invests (at the time of writing) in Alphabet , the parent company of Google and YouTube, I find the issues covered extra [...]
London regains top spot in Schroders’ Global Cities Index March 1, 2021 | City Talk London has returned to the top spot in the Schroders’ Global Cities Index after scoring highly in its response to climate change in comparison to other cities in the index. This year, the index has introduced a transport score into the ranking, with a particular focus on mass transit systems. As a result, car-reliant Los [...]
Will pressure on Chinese tech firms spark renewed interest in value stocks? February 26, 2021 | City Talk The flotation of Ant Group in December last year was supposed to be a landmark event. The initial public offering (IPO) was set to raise $37 billion, valuing Ant at over $313 billion and making it the biggest IPO ever. It was due to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai, rather than having a US [...]
The truth about growth and value performance February 24, 2021 | City Talk A statement I have heard many times in recent years, last year especially, is that the “value” style of investing no longer makes sense. That the very idea of buying an unfashionable stock doesn’t make sense when the new hottest stock with the most epic growth forecasts is being dangled, tantalisingly, in front of you. [...]
Trust me, I’m a chief executive February 19, 2021 | City Talk Public trust in government is waning, as the 2021 Edelman Barometer of Trust revealed recently. Between January and May 2020, trust in government rose in almost all countries: people all over the world put faith in their leaders as the global pandemic took hold. But, interestingly, this trust has subsequently eroded, in some cases to below pre-pandemic [...]
Why I can stomach higher equity valuations – Schroders CIO February 17, 2021 | City Talk The rising involvement of retail investors has been an intriguing trend during the pandemic, culminating in the surge and slump of GameStop shares. As an industry, we worry about the disconnection of individual investors from financial markets, the hubs of wealth creation. Direct ownership of shares by individuals has been declining for decades. For that reason, [...]