Simple soundbites for post-Brexit dividends do the City little good for our future growth GARRY WHITE DO YOU want the City of London to be slow and cautious or quick and nimble? This is how the debate over a potential new round of regulation in the City of London has been framed. However, the situation is clearly more complex than this simple soundbite suggests. Forming part of ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak’s pitch [...]
Last Week in the City: Trade fears re-emerge City Talk Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (30 July to 3 August 2018). Interest rates were raised in the UK for the second time since the financial crisis, but the move was widely expected. The earnings season continued. Growth in all regions was [...]
Last Week in the City: August rate rise now less likely City Talk Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (16 to 20 July 2018). The chances of an interest rate rise at the Bank of England’s August meeting appeared to recede this week after inflation data was more subdued than expected and retail sales data [...]
Last Week in the City: Trade wars begin July 6, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (2 to 6 July 2018). The World Cup is “distracting” for participants in global markets, according to Citigroup. "We find that football is indeed distracting, subtly impacting market depth, traded volumes and execution cost,” the US [...]
Last Week in the City: Amazon buys a pharmacy June 29, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (25 to 29 June 2018). The FTSE 100 traded little over the week, despite a rally in oil prices. There was more bad news from the retail sector after The John Lewis Partnership warned on profits [...]
Last Week in the City: Markets Trumped by trade fears June 22, 2018 The week was dominated by trade war fears as Donald Trump said he would slap further tariffs on Chinese goods should there be any retaliatory measures. Despite this, Nasdaq hit a record high, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased all its gains in 2018 so far. The FTSE 100 fell 0.5% over the week [...]
Will a new cocoa cartel force up chocolate prices? June 21, 2018 Chocoholics and biscuit-lovers have been upset by the concept of "shrinkflation". This is where manufacturers reduce the size of people’s favourite treats without bothering to shrink the price. Consumers are getting less for their money – and this recent mooted changes in the cocoa market could end up handing more power to growers. Will this [...]
De Beers just launched a Game of Stones June 12, 2018 Diamond pioneer De Beers has always insisted it would never market man-made, or “fake”, diamonds. It recently made a surprise U-turn, revealing it will soon sell laboratory-grown stones, despite its current “real is rare” marketing campaign. So what has sparked this change of heart? De Beers, owned by Anglo American and the Government of Botswana, [...]
Rihanna roils markets as China bags a key element March 21, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (March 12 to March 16, 2018). This week, Barbadian singing sensation Rihanna managed to wipe $1bn off the valuation of tech group Snap, the Chinese secured a major cobalt deal to help it produce electric [...]
A sensible way to play the robotics megatrend March 21, 2018 In the next few decades, chief executives of major global corporations could all become redundant. They will be replaced by robots with highly-developed artificial intelligence, because machines are quicker, more rational and do not get bogged down with silly human emotions. That’s according to Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese internet behemoth Alibaba. Of course, [...]
