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
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