As UK and global markets face the unprecedented challenge of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise Kernohan, co‑manager of Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust, advocates a focus on high-quality companies and the need for a long-term mind-set.…
Can the world cope with a resurgent dollar?
There is no doubt that big swings in the value of the US Dollar have a big impact on global economic growth and also financial markets performances. Between June 2014 and January 2016, as the…
Market review: Back to the playground
Financial markets have been described as casinos, rollercoasters and merry-go-rounds. Recently, though, they’ve been more of a seesaw. The playground favourite was much in evidence this week. As the pound peaked on Wednesday, the FTSE…
Market review: Brexit bites back
Was this the week that Brexit finally bit? After smashing through 7,000 last week, the FTSE 100 began where it left off, rising to an all-time intraday high of 7,124.69 by Tuesday lunchtime. But as…
Week in review: The best of times and the worst of times
It was a week of contrasts. Sterling fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the mid-1980s, and its lowest against the euro in five years. But it was also a week in which…
Week in review: A crude awakening
Fears over the financial health of Deutsche Bank flustered investors at the start of the week. But signs that energy prices might be rising from their slumber provided some solace, resulting in a positive week…
Week in review: What the Fed said
A familiar sense of anticipation settled over investors awaiting the result of the US Federal Reserve’s September deliberation. By and large, analysts and commentators expected the central bank’s interest rate-setting committee to hold firm and…
Week in review: Her name is Rio …
It was all eyes on Rio de Janeiro this week, as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad got into full swing. As is now traditional at such celebrations of human sporting prowess, the efforts of…
Week in review: Desperate times
On Wednesday the result of the most wide-ranging survey of British businesses since the Brexit vote was released. The purchasing managers’ index showed the sharpest fall in business activity for 20 years, and follows a…
Ten Golden Rules of Equity Investing (video)
We have distilled our insights from the world of investing into ten succinct rules. None of them should surprise and they all share one distinct trait: a belief in common sense. While the sentiment behind…
Week in review: poker face
Poker face How low would they go? That was the question on investors’ lips this week as they looked to the first meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) since the UK’s…
Week in review: in for a penny…
Now that two weeks have passed since the momentous referendum result on 23 June, some of the implications for markets and the UK economy are becoming clearer. On Wednesday, sterling touched a 31-year low against…
Week in review: Microsoft’s missing link?
The UK stock market came under further Brexit-related pressure this week, sending the FTSE 100 2.7% lower to close below the psychologically important 6,000 barrier on Thursday evening. However, there was an injection of some…
Market review: safe as houses?
The UK stock market began the week well, with share prices moving up in tandem with the oil price, which rose above $51 on Wednesday. But things turned sour thereafter, leaving the FTSE 100 index…
Week in review: this is not just any profits warning…
Hundreds of millions of pounds were wiped off Marks & Spencer’s market value on Wednesday after the high street icon warned that a plan to revamp its clothing range would tear a hole in its…
Week in review: ruffled feathers
“I know a hawk from a handsaw.” William Shakespeare, Hamlet And so, evidently, do the markets. Four hundred years on from Shakespeare’s death, investors are in absolutely no danger of mistaking the merest hint of…
Week in review: talking nonsense
In celebration of the birthday of author and poet Edward Lear, Thursday was declared National Limerick Day. Former Bank of England monetary policy committee member Andrew Sentance took this to heart and decided the form…
Market review: inertia – gaining momentum?
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers (1879-1935) Mr Rogers was a man of multiple talents – Depression-era humourist, newspaper columnist, political commentator, vaudevillian…
Market review: oiling the wheels
The week began with a whimper, as the Doha oil talks – at which the world’s major oil producers discussed cutting production – ended without agreement on Sunday. Although the oil price initially dipped in…