Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: Here we go again
England will soon plunge back into lockdown. It shouldn’t be as economically painful as the first time around, says chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. But it won’t be good.
8 mins
Review of the week: The spooky season
Halloween is stuffed full of potential frights this year and a bit light on the fun. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth tiptoes around Brexit, US elections and earnings season.
6 mins
Review of the week: Sliced and diced
We all try to structure our financial affairs as efficiently as possible, so we have more money to do what we want with our lives. Yet sometimes our financial affairs start to affect the structure of our lives and our communities, notes chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
8 mins
Review of the week: Predicting the unpredictable
Biden has taken the edge in the polls but previous experience begs the question: do polls really matter? Our chief investment officer, Julian Chillingworth, mulls the possible outcomes of the US election and the effectiveness of the UK government’s spending packages.
6 mins
Review of the week: Computer says no
The government started the fourth quarter with the political equivalent of a kitchen-sinking. Best to focus your attention elsewhere, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, like better-than expected economic data and the potential for monetary stimulus.
5 mins
Review of the week: Time flies
There’s so much going on that it can seem like nothing in isolation makes any difference. That’s not true, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. Every decision matters.
6 mins
Review of the week: Post-holiday blues
As winter approaches, the news looks glum. Yet we should take heart from our ability to adapt, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
7 mins
Review of the week: Balancing act
The infectiousness of COVID-19 means economic growth is often bundled with new cases. Governments, people and businesses have to make hard choices, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, and the conundrum isn’t going away soon.
6 mins
Review of the week: Otherwise fine
As summer winds down and the pandemic persists, governments are finding it hard to taper their support measures. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth is chipper enough, albeit with an umbrella under his arm.
7 mins
Review of the week: White House rescue
Congress failed to seal a benefit extension for unemployed Americans or figure out how to support cash-strapped states as the summer recess looms. It fell to the President to come up with a contested stopgap.
7 mins
Review of the week: Control the message
Corporate results fared well during lockdowns, yet they are still well below pre-pandemic levels. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth examines why gold has hit record highs and why ‘riskier’ banks have done better than vanilla ones.
7 mins
Review of the week: Foxes and storks
Investors have piled into gold as the reality of US-China diplomacy starts to resemble Aesop’s fabled fox and stork. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth also ponders whether US tech shares are priced for perfection as he looks ahead to some big earnings results this week.
5 mins
Safety first
The UK is facing a triple crisis: a pandemic, poor leadership and crippling risk aversion that’s spreading throughout everyday life. Multi-asset portfolio funds lead manager David Coombs argues that we are pushing risk into the future.
4 mins
The horror of anomalies
Some companies are starting to let wishful thinking take over their reporting. Head of fixed income Bryn Jones takes a dim view of EBITDAC.
3 mins
Lego Man helps himself
After one month of lockdown, multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown’s hair was unkempt. After two months, it was totally out of control. It’s time for self-help.
4 mins
Have a little faith
Bad news is feeding many pessimists at the moment. Head of fixed income Bryn Jones sees a different, more optimistic, picture – and he’s investing in it.
3 mins
Maradona monetary policy is over
Lack of live football has our head of fixed income, Bryn Jones, looking back over past classics. That got him thinking about an old theory of monetary policy that may now be outmoded.
4 mins
Responsible recession
With the world in lockdown and experiencing the worst recession in living memory Matt Crossman, our stewardship director, ponders whether the recent trend toward ESG was a luxury afforded by the longest bull market in living memory.
3 mins
Fallen angels
‘Fallen angels’ of the bond world are getting a better reception than the disgraced seraphim in Paradise Lost. Pondering the power of the Fed, our head of fixed income Bryn Jones is reminded of John Milton’s epic poem.
4 mins
Sofa, self-isolation and … S&P 500 put options
Instead of reclining poolside on a June holiday abroad, our multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown is resigned to a staycation. But there will no doubt be plenty of work to keep him and the multi-asset team very busy this year.
4 mins
A dog’s not just for lockdown
Credit markets have been a crazy place for the past couple of months. But our head of fixed income, Bryn Jones, has got a new friend to keep him (halfway) sane.
3 mins
Uncharted territory
During times of crisis, the way companies respond can have a major impact on society as a whole, not just their balance sheets. Rathbone Global Sustainability Fund manager David Harrison discusses why he believes companies with strong sustainability principles have a greater potential to weather the pandemic.
3 mins
The vicar of drawdown
Too much lockdown TV is getting to David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. But he may have a point about the varied performance of risk-rated funds and models during the corona crisis.
4 mins
Do your homework
Toiling in the shadows is the lot of investment managers and analysts, argues our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs. For all the client meetings and webcasts, the most important job is finding quality investments. Which is why he had to travel to sunny California last year…
2 mins