Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: The king of viruses?
An aggressive flu has disrupted the Chinese New Year and put the world on high alert. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth thinks it’s a bit early to panic, but that could soon be overtaken by a fast-moving virus.
6 mins
Review of the week: America first
China and the US have signed a one-sided trade deal that has got investors excited about the year ahead. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth notes recession concerns have been well and truly supplanted.
6 mins
Review of the week: Sky rockets in flight
Stock markets went bananas last year as China and the US appeared to finally agree on trade. But then the killing of a top Iranian general set off geopolitical fireworks. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth mulls the consequences.
7 mins
Review of the week : A Christmas Carol
Boris Johnson has won a strong mandate to get on with his Brexit deal, sending sterling shooting higher. But there’s something unusual going on with UK stocks, notes chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
5 mins
Crunch time (again)
We don’t know about you, but over the past year or so we got into the habit of buying our travel money extremely far in advance of holidays.
7 mins
Eating for two?
We’re all craving the end of lockdown and a bit of freedom. But Craig Brown, our multi-asset investment specialist, wonders just how many of us will be in the position to spend up large.
2 mins
Fun and GameStop in the bedroom
It looks like we’ll all be staying in this Valentine’s Day. But multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte is looking forward to some quality time away from the screens.
4 mins
China: will it be a bullish Year of the Ox?
As China celebrates the Year of the Ox, our head of asset allocation research Edward Smith considers the health of the world’s second-largest economy – and the resulting implications for global trade and financial markets.
5 mins
Will the dollar lose its perch?
As you may have seen in your clients’ portfolios, the US dollar has been tottering a little lately. Head of asset allocation research, Ed Smith, asks if this is a short-term wobble or whether the dollar may lose its perch after decades of dominance?
4 mins
Recovery’s winners and losers
As investors look ahead to a time when the pandemic will be over, Ed Smith and Sanjiv Tumkur, our respective heads of asset allocation and equity research, question whether equity markets are in the midst of a great rotation from ‘growth’ to ‘value’.
4 mins
Bitcoin: bearer bonds for the 21st century
A lockdown-induced Christmas TV binge didn’t extend quite as far the Wizard of Oz for our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs. But “the Great and Terrible” did come up in a conversation about bitcoin.
5 mins
2021: the year ahead. Maybe?
Well, 2020 didn’t go the way we all expected. Our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, has tossed out his old fortune-telling teacup and reached for the magic 8-ball this year.
2 mins
A ‘brand’ new world
Head of equity research, Sanjiv Tumkur, considers how a new generation of consumers are leading long-established brands - the bedrock of portfolios around the world - to adapt a more sustainable approach and help shape a ‘brand’ new world.
3 mins
Spread your wings and fly away
With vaccines in the offing, many investors argue that inflation is just around the corner. Fill your boots with airlines, they say. Yet our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs has had his head in the 1970s lately, and it’s helped him spot a flaw in the plan.
4 mins
MiFID II and the implications for ESG investing
In June 2020, rating agency Morningstar reported that global investments in environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds had reached a record high of $1.06 trillion, with capital inflows into sustainable funds up 72% in the second quarter alone.
4 mins
Insomnia in the trenches
The shock of the pandemic has made many businesses question how and why they do things. You shouldn’t underestimate how valuable these re-evaluations are, argues head of multi-asset investments David Coombs. Or underestimate the changes they could have on the future.
3 mins
Who’d be a pollster?
The US election is coming down to the wire, with President Donald Trump prematurely claiming victory as votes are still being counted feverishly all over the country. Of all the years, head of multi-asset investments David Coombs laments, this one could have done with an early, decisive result.
2 mins