Five charts which explain what is going on with inflation City Talk “Output gap”, “bottlenecks”, “core inflation”, “base effects”, “second-round effects” “labour participation rate”. These are some of the key industry terms essential to understanding what’s going on with inflation. Soaring job vacancies reflect the strong economic recovery of the world’s major economies, as Covid-19 induced restrictions have been gradually eased. Shortages of materials, energy and transport [...]
Is bling out? What Chinese “common prosperity” means for luxury goods City Talk Evergrande Group will not have helped to calm the nerves of investors in European luxury goods companies. They’ve viewed recent developments in China with some trepidation. The difficulties facing the country’s second largest property developer (by sales) add to a checklist of concerns. These concerns include a slowdown in economic activity (for background, see: China: what [...]
Five years since Brexit: four charts to show UK shares could be returning to favour City Talk As Brexit negotiations reached their denouement late last year UK investors sensed the outlook for their home market improving. The Schroders 2020 UK Financial Adviser Survey revealed 40% of respondents were looking to increase allocations to UK shares over the subsequent 12 months, see: Are investors adjusting to the new normal? Six months on, with a “no-deal” outcome [...]
Which stock markets sold off the most over Q1 and how do valuations look? April 15, 2020 It’s been an incredibly tough start to the year for investors, with some market veterans describing it as one of the most challenging situations they’ve ever experienced. While markets have staged a recovery since late March, it was a crushing quarter as coronavirus (Covid-19) effectively shuttered the global economy, not to forget the immeasurable human [...]
Brexit: 23 answers to investors’ questions October 16, 2018 The UK’s scheduled departure from the EU is fast approaching. Many observers are hopeful for an orderly withdrawal. But plenty of potential pitfalls between now and Brexit-day which could result in a chaotic divorce. The only near-certainty at present is that the UK will cease to be a full member of the EU on 29 [...]
UK small and mid cap shares: in search of growth November 28, 2017 For equity investors seeking exciting growth companies the UK market offers some compelling opportunities. Investors in UK-quoted companies have two key markets from which to choose: the main market of the London Stock Exchange with its well-established FTSE indices and 319-year pedigree (see footnote 1), and relative newcomer the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). For active [...]
