What does a weaker yen mean for investors in Japan? City Talk Changing economic circumstances could alter the market impacts of currency weakness explain experts Masaki Taketsume, George Brown and Robbie Boukhoufane. It’s a been a difficult first third of 2022 for markets generally, which is perhaps unsurprising given the many sources of uncertainty and discord in the world. A very sharp depreciation in the value of [...]
What is the outlook for UK dividends in a less certain world? City Talk Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks set to exacerbate economic trends which had already been influencing markets. Amid the uncertainty, experienced investors Sue Noffke and Graham Ashby give their views on the outlook for UK dividends. Investors had already been viewing markets in a more cautionary manner, even before Russian troops amassed on the border with [...]
Ukraine crisis highlights Europe’s dependency on Russian gas City Talk Russia is currently facing the ire of the world following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, which is bringing misery to millions. It is also the second largest producer of natural gas in the world. It serves European consumers of energy through a number of pipelines. Proximity and the ease of transport means supplies from the [...]
Five charts which explain what is going on with inflation November 1, 2021 “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 October 8, 2021 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 July 9, 2021 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 [...]
