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
The risk in doing good
Diversity, equity and inclusion is important to ensure businesses get the best skills, avoid group-think and better understand their customers, argues our Multi-Asset Portfolios lead fund manager, David Coombs. But – as with anything – risks remain.
4 mins
Hoarding Cash
Why take risk when you can be paid 5% or more to leave your cash at the bank? Because you’re forgetting about tomorrow, argues head of multi-asset investments David Coombs.
5 mins
Squaring the dividend triangle
Striking the balance between delivering a tasty income today while sowing the seeds for higher dividends in years to come is the artful science at the heart of equity income investing. Rathbone Income Fund manager Alan Dobbie explains how he approaches the task.
4 mins
Barbenheimer, renewables and the power of hype
Rahab Paracha, sustainable multi-asset investment specialist, finds lessons for sustainable investors in Hollywood hoopla.
5 mins
What’s in a name?
Industry veteran David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, gets cranky about lazy labelling and job name inflation as he dispenses 40 years’ wisdom to budding finance acolytes.
5 mins
The lights are still on for the US economy
Rathbone Global Opportunities fund manager James Thomson explains why he thinks the US economy may turn out to be brighter this year than feared. And can US stocks keep climbing if the economy slows, but doesn’t shrink?
4 mins
Nothing to fear but fear itself?
After braving Italian traffic, Head of Multi-Asset Investments David Coombs is in no mood to sit on the sidelines. But he worries that the fear-driven race to avoid missing the stock market’s few biggest winners could screech to a sudden halt.
3 mins
Time for a change
Much of the world’s water infrastructure has suffered from years of neglect and lack of investment. Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability Fund manager David Harrison looks at the solutions.
4 mins
A far-sighted perspective on near-term bond market moves
Tilting towards shorter-term bonds has made sense as interest rates have marched higher. But Head of Fixed Income Bryn Jones explains why he’s now panning out to longer-perspectives and adding more interest rate risk (duration) to his funds.
5 mins
Live long and prosper?
We tend to view the ageing of our society as a worrying thing. Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Carl Stick favours a more positive spin that recognises that greater longevity gives us longer futures, widening our options to work, spend and save.
4 mins
Sustainability is about people, not just the environment
The planet and its climate get most of the attention with sustainable investors. Rathbones sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha explains why improving people’s lives is perhaps more important and how that may even help solve our environmental problems.
4 mins
Why the long face?
After a tough few years for the UK, things are starting to look up, argues Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund manager Alexandra Jackson. The chances of recession have dropped, political stability has returned and profits are cheap. When will investors notice?
3 mins