Coronavirus: the economic impact March 5, 2020 | City Talk The coronavirus threatens to derail the revival in global economic growth which began in the latter part of 2019. Economic indicators up to January continued to show an improvement in activity with business surveys signalling rising orders and output. However, confidence in the sustainability of the upswing has been undermined by the virus, officially known [...]
Barrelling towards conflict: How the oil market reacted to Iran-US tensions January 14, 2020 For good or ill, oil remains the lifeblood of the global economy. It is essential to industrial production, to how we transport goods (as well as ourselves) around the world, and how we heat our homes and generally go about our everyday lives. Rising oil prices can therefore act as a handbrake on global growth, [...]
‘Return of the CDO’ – how scary could that sequel prove? June 3, 2019 | City Talk CDOs 2 (complete, of course, with the tagline ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back into collateral debt obligations’) is unlikely to have filmgoers queuing round the block – and yet ‘Overconfident group reckon they can do better than previous set of unfortunates in the face of all warnings and evidence to [...]
Bitcoin bounces as the pound plunges: what’s next for global markets? May 20, 2019 | City Talk Last week was all about a modern currency enjoying some big moves – all while a more established one was plunging. Bitcoin has been grabbing its fair share of headlines in recent months, with the crypto favourite trading above $8,000 last week for the first time since July last year. This served to bring the [...]
This investment clock says what assets to buy and when March 11, 2019 | City Talk By Tom Bailey from interactive investor. It’s inevitable that the unremitting global economic cycle will impact stock markets, but when? The economist Paul Samuelson once joked that the stock market has predicted nine of the past seven recessions. But while the over-reactive nature of equity market investors and their poor predictive powers ring true, there [...]
Why 2019 might be a better year for investors December 19, 2018 | City Talk 2018 has been a disappointing year for most investors. Almost all markets, both stocks and bonds, have fallen in value this year, under pressure from rising interest rates, political developments such as Brexit, and the trade dispute between the US and China. With hindsight, markets were priced for perfection at the start of the year [...]
Inescapable investment truths for the decade ahead November 27, 2018 | City Talk It seems clear to us that the world investors have got used to over the last few years is very different to the one we need to get accustomed to in the years to come. We have identified a number of economic forces and disruptive forces we think will shape the investment landscape ahead of [...]
Shocktober: Seven charts that tell the story of the stock market’s worst month in six years November 6, 2018 | City Talk World stock markets fell 7.4 per cent in October as investors fretted about issues such as US-China trade tensions, European political uncertainty and the end of quantitative easing. The sell-off made it the worst monthly performance for stocks globally in the last six years and it’s the tenth worst in the last decade, as measured by the [...]
The one-word secret of the greatest investor you’ve never heard of October 24, 2018 | City Talk Type a phrase such as ‘world’s greatest investors’ into Google and Philip Carret’s name is unlikely to crop up. And yet, as the following chart shows, for sheer longevity of success, he is one of just a handful of investors who can be mentioned in the same breath as Warren Buffett. That is why his [...]
Brexit: 23 answers to investors’ questions October 16, 2018 | City Talk 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 [...]