Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: Just like the old days
With COVID cases starting to roll over – in the UK at least – and investors settling down for some old-fashioned Fed watching, everyone is hoping 2022 will be a bit more like pre-pandemic times.
6 mins
Review of the week: A strange and profitable year
Another COVID-blighted year has passed. Yet, for all the turmoil, 2021 was a great one for markets.
5 mins
Review of the week: Christmas at risk
Déjà vu in the UK. With COVID cases mounting once again and restrictions piling up, everyone is wondering whether Christmas will be cancelled once again.
5 mins
Review of the week: Still plenty of punch in the bowl
Market sentiment has been swinging wildly lately, but in this week’s review chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth explains why he thinks the supply of festive spirits won’t run dry.
7 mins
Review of the week: It’s all Greek now
A worrying new strain of COVID-19 has upended confidence in economic recovery, the path of interest rates and potentially the arrival of Father Christmas.
6 mins
Review of the week: COVID season
It’s shaping up to be another winter tarnished by the virus. As if central bankers needed more complexity on top of huge government spending, upended supply chains and confused labour markets.
4 mins
Review of the week: A different climate
The outcome of COP26 has left many people feeling blue about our fight to stop global warming. But that disappointment actually shows how much has changed in a few short years.
6 mins
Review of the week: Big ambitions, bigger uncertainties?
The eyes of the world are watching COP26 for bold action on climate change. Meanwhile, the UK chancellor envisages a ‘new age of optimism’.
4 mins
Review of the week: Fortune-telling statistics
Official statistics are in flux as UK policymakers ponder their plans for the future. Meanwhile, third-quarter US company reporting is off to a great start.
6 mins
Review of the week: Tug-of-war
Investors grapple with change as inflation rides higher and economic growth bounces back. Central bankers must come to terms with the new environment as well or risk making bad decisions.
6 mins
Review of the week: Bonds go bananas
Bondholders sell government debt aggressively as inflation concerns mount, but are investors overpaying for inflation protection?
6 mins
Review of the week: Furlough’s end
Arguably the greatest welfare programme in UK history has come to an end. That should bring clarity to labour markets and free up workers for more resilient businesses.
5 mins
What a time to join
Our (sort of) new Rathbone Funds chief investment officer Tom Carroll joined us as a decade-long economic world order was ending with a bang. Did he have to search under the desks for his fund managers?
4 mins
When the love disappears
It’s Valentine’s Day so David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, is taking the duchess out for Pizza Express. Alright, it was a week ago, but he’s still a cheapskate. Just not when it comes to investments.
5 mins
Lessons from a tough 2022
Central banks dominated markets in 2022, sending UK smaller companies tumbling. Yet UK Opportunities Fund manager Alexandra Jackson argues 2023 will be a year when investors start paying attention to companies’ fundamentals once again.
2 mins
Low expectations, even lower valuations
Britain has suffered through an omnicrisis for almost six months and recession looms on the horizon. And yet UK markets have been a bright spot, notes Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Alan Dobbie. What’s going on?
4 mins
From ‘TINA’ to ‘TANIA’…
Head of fixed income Bryn Jones explains why even the most tenacious equity bulls are starting to acknowledge that the era of ‘there is no alternative’ to stocks is finally done.
3 mins
Run, Rabbit, Run
Ahead of the largest annual human migration in the world, China has opened the floodgates to economic growth and COVID-19. Multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte hopes the Lunar New Year is a happy and prosperous one, for the Chinese and for the world.
5 mins
2023: The year ahead. Maybe?
After a pretty questionable effort at predicting 2022, our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, dusts himself off and leaps into 2023.
2 mins
Great Expectations?
Multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte channels his inner Scrooge as he confronts Christmases Past and Present. Can they provide investors with helpful insights about what’s to come?
6 mins
Keeping warm without overheating the planet?
Old buildings that fail to keep in heat aren’t just expensive for their residents. They’re also costly for the climate. Head of Equities Sanjiv Tumkur examines some of the innovations seeking to address this challenge.
3 mins
Bonds and (investment) goals
As head of fixed income Bryn Jones remembers his favourite World Cup, he asks whether investors might want to think about revisiting their bond allocations as they try to meet their investment goals.
3 mins
The Naked Coin
The implosion of one the largest crypto exchanges will be a massive shock to many holders of digital assets. Head of multi-asset investments David Coombs remembers a reality check of his own from 10 years ago.
5 mins
Can ‘quality’ stocks deliver recession resilience at a reasonable price?
Slowing economic growth, high inflation and rising interest rates are weighing heavily on global equity markets. Favouring different equity ‘styles’ is one way to try to protect portfolios. Head of equities Sanjiv Tumkur explains that stocks with strong ‘quality’ characteristics tend to outperform in economic slowdowns. So what defines a ‘quality’ company?
3 mins