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Week in review: Home comforts
Global equity markets continued to rally, with the FTSE 100 up 0.57% and the S&P 500 up 0.46% by Thursday’s close. Familiar themes – the ‘Trump trade’, Brexit and the Eurozone’s problems – rumbled on…
What a Difference a Year Makes
Alex Scott, Deputy Chief Investment Officer. 10 February 2017. What a difference a year makes! A year ago, investors were in panic mode, still battered by the shock of the Chinese devaluation in August and…
Value: The beginning of a New Era?
2016 is obviously going to be remembered as a year of great change from a political point of view, but it also could go down as the end of the great bond bull market, which…
Searching for the Next Decent Trade
It seems like each week so far in 2017 we have been looking at different variations of the Trump reflation trade, and questioning whether the evidence backs a continuation, or a reversal. Frustratingly, it’s been…
Week in review: Fed up with fame
Long ago in the days of yore (well, pre-2016), investors looked to the sages of the central banking world to provide wisdom and guidance. Stock markets could plunge on the inscrutable utterances of Ben Bernanke,…
Reflective Calm or Sleepwalking in a Minefield?
For years, markets have been becalmed by the soothing remedies handed out by central banks at the first sign of trouble. And for years, many (ourselves included) have warned that there must be unintended consequences…
Week in review: the Trump bump
No, not the latest dance craze to clog up the internet, but rather the term some are employing to describe the effects of his election as US president on equity markets. While the trend seemed…
A Pause for Breath – But Inflation is Still Coming
Alex Scott, Deputy Chief Investment Officer. 24 January 2017. Investors have been sensing hints of inflation since the summer. With Trump’s election win in November, those hints became much less subtle. The US economy, already…
Fed Balance Sheet Reduction Being Ignored by Markets
With all the talk of new President Trump, and how his proposals may impact the economy and financial markets, we thought we would pick up on something that seems to be slipping under the radar…
Week in review: Obama out
It’s the end of the Obama era, as the 44th president of the United States steps aside, making way for a successor whose views and ideals are significantly different to his own. In his final…
On The Eve of Change
Donald Trump held his first press conference since the election last week. Just in case there was any doubt, we think the style and the substance tell us that change is coming; potentially big changes.…
The Trump trade may be close to an end – A round up of Markets
We wish everyone a happy New Year, and with the FX and rates markets entering the year with a bit of a bang, there is a lot to get through this week. We will try…
What are the prospects for markets and the investment company industry in 2017? (video)
[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnaV5r1iLCA[/embed] The AIC talks to Bruce Stout, manager of Murray International, Peter Ewins, manager of F&C Global Smaller Companies and James Henderson, manager of Lowland, Law Debenture and Henderson Opportunities, about what 2017 may…
AIC fund manager poll: The American Dream in 2017?
The AIC has issued the results from its 2016 fund manager poll. The Association of Investment Companies’ (AIC) annual fund manager survey finds managers more optimistic on the outlook for equities than a year ago,…
A prescription for providing 21st century healthcare (video)
Global healthcare systems are reaching breaking point. In developed markets, rising costs, aging and growing populations, an increase of chronic and communicable diseases are the perpetual and metaphorical headache. In developing markets, systems and infrastructure…
The Year Ahead 2017
January 2017. Our positive economic outlook for 2016 was pretty much correct and, at the end of the year, it looks as if markets reflected that growth with almost all major equity indices in positive…
Week in Review: goodbye Monte
Christmas is upon us but the end is nigh for Monte dei Paschi. Or at least it is as a privately owned bank. The various attempts to recapitalise the world’s oldest surviving bank through the…
A review of 2016: A test of endurance…
2016 is certainly a year that will go down in the history books – for both the right and wrong reasons. Apart from a swathe of celebrity deaths, we’ve had Brexit, the still surreal rise…