Biden vs Trump: what are markets telling us? November 2, 2020 | City Talk With less than a week to go until the US presidential election, will Biden’s lead in the polls be enough to convince investors that Trump is poised for defeat? Many think not. After all, the polls notoriously got it wrong four years ago when Trump beat Hillary Clinton. For this reason, there has been heightened [...]
US economy rebounds with record growth, but now faces new headwinds October 29, 2020 The US economy grew at a record pace in the third quarter of the year after the devastation of the spring, according to figures that will no doubt please President Donald Trump ahead of the election. US GDP grew at a quarterly rate of 7.4 per cent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said, following a [...]
The City View: Michael Hewson on how markets could react to the US election October 29, 2020 In this episode Christian is joined by CMC Markets’ chief market analyst Michael Hewson, who gives his take on the state of the US economy and how markets could respond to either a Biden victory or four more years of Donald Trump. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Michael looks at the current health of [...]
Institutions don’t share retail investors’ optimism on returns October 28, 2020 | City Talk Schroders’ studies suggest retail – or individual – investors are more optimistic about future returns than investors at large institutions. Individuals have indicated that they expect average annual returns of nearly 11% over the next five years while institutional investors anticipate a more moderate 6%. Schroders’ Institutional Investor Study is an analysis of views from [...]
Which stock markets look cheap as we enter the final quarter of 2020? October 23, 2020 | City Talk While the virus itself hasn’t gone away, as far as financial markets are concerned, the pit of misery was back in March. At that point, a typical global market stock market portfolio had haemorrhaged around a third of its value in just six weeks. Stocks have soared As is often the case, peak despair turns [...]
Wall Street closes in the red as stimulus talks grind on October 19, 2020 Wall Street closed lower this evening as deadlock over a new stimulus package raised concerns that time was running out to agree a deal before the election on 3 November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 per cent, to 28,207, the S&P 500 lost 1.6 per cent to hit 3,427.37 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq [...]
The maths of why growth companies are beating value October 14, 2020 | City Talk One of the side effects of low interest rates is that, because of the way that companies are valued, investors place a higher value on companies (and investment projects) which have a low probability, high payoff, a long time in the future. This helps explain why investors have been prepared to pay up for loss-making [...]
Has demand for oil already peaked? October 13, 2020 | City Talk Alternative energy sources to fossil fuels have been around for many years. Countries around the world are now harnessing the power of the wind, sun and tides to cut their dependence on fossil fuels such as oil. Energy transition However, this transition to renewable energy is now set to accelerate rapidly, driven by a number [...]
Playboy set for Wall Street listing as iconic publisher looks to float October 1, 2020 The company, founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953 and forever synonymous with nude female centrefolds, said today it will merge with SPAC Mountain Crest Acquisition in a deal that values Playboy at $415m (£323m). Hugh Hefner’s company has in recent years moved into selling clothes, consumer accessories, gaming and promoting “sexual wellness”. It stopped printing [...]
US GDP plummets 31 per cent in second quarter to lowest on record September 30, 2020 US GDP plummeted 31.4 per cent in the three months to July to the lowest level on record, data revealed today, as President Donald Trump scrambles to restore the economy ahead of the presidential election next month. Annualised figures released today by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revised up an earlier estimate which [...]