Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: 2022 wrapped up
We look back at a grim year for financial markets. The rebound in the last few months seems to offer investors some relief, but can we be confident that the worst is over?
5 mins
Review of the week: The upside down
Watchers of Netflix’s Stranger Things will know the Upside Down isn’t a cheery place to be. So what’s going on in bond markets?
6 mins
Review of the week: Behind the curtain
More is going on behind the curtain of modern China than its leaders would have you believe, if increasing unrest is anything to go by. Meanwhile, Europeans cross their fingers for a mild winter.
7 mins
Review of the week: Inflation slows, stocks surge
Stocks flew higher after inflation came in lower than expected. It’s tough and getting tougher for businesses and families though, especially in the UK.
6 mins
Review of the week: Imaginings and disappointments
Central banks are doggedly raising interest rates. Investors hopeful for a change of tack may continue to be disappointed for a while yet.
7 mins
Review of the week: Big Tech’s scary sell-off
Investors got spooked as Big Tech’s quarterly results showed they weren’t immune to economic headwinds, driving brutal sell-offs. Meanwhile, the UK government’s huge about-face seems to be reaping a ‘dullness dividend’.
6 mins
Review of the week: The price of milk
Inflation continues to eat away at shoppers’ spending power, both in the UK and abroad. Meanwhile, how do currency fluctuations affect investment returns?
10 mins
Review of the week: More than full circle
New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has reversed virtually everything announced in the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget in a bid to stabilise markets after weeks of turmoil.
9 mins
Review of the week: Credibility is the currency
The Bank of England has kept the gilt market greased and the Chancellor has brought forward the date he will reveal his detailed fiscal plans, easing pressure on the UK. Meanwhile, inflation still reigns supreme in investors’ minds.
7 mins
Review of the week: Maelstrom
Soaring bonds yields sent mortgage rates skyrocketing. However, they also upended pension funds in a nasty feedback loop that threatened to send many of them to the wall.
7 mins
Review of the week: Like a stone
The mini-budget will drastically reduce taxation and increase borrowing. It has rattled everyone, from the backbenches to bond markets. Will the gamble pay off?
6 mins
Review of the week: The Queen’s people
Hundreds of thousands of people queued for hours to pay their respects to the late Queen ahead of her funeral on Monday.
4 mins
Easy does it
Economic statistics fell off a cliff in May, but as chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth notes, investors were already anticipating a big bounce as economies began to reopen.
3 mins
This too shall pass
Amid an alphabet soup of economic forecasts, chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth looks for the ingredients of a lasting recovery.
3 mins
March madness
Markets are jig-jagging like a frightened hare as wholesale lockdowns and extraordinary stimulus have streaked across the globe. Our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth reports on the month.
6 mins
Expect the unexpected
As Covid-19 rattles markets and investors scramble for safety,. our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth considers the longer-term implications for the global economy and also looks at the narrowing Democratic primary race to take on Donald Trump.
4 mins
The journey begins
After many debates, votes and faff, the UK is just about ready to start leaving the EU. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth takes a look at the year ahead and the one just gone.
4 mins
Snakes and Ladders
Another deadline, another delay to Brexit – and now another election on top. Meanwhile, the tennis match between China and the US over trade continues, notes our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
5 mins
Blinkers are for horses
Investors are galloping from one extreme to the other in all sorts of markets. But nothing is black and white, warns chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, so investors should try to focus on the longer term effects and ignore short-term craziness.
5 mins
A last gasp
At his penultimate meeting, outgoing President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi announced a series of measures to ease monetary policy in the listless region. The bank cut deposit rates by 10 basis points to -0.50% and will restart quantitative easing (QE) on 1 November. At just €20 billion (£17.7bn) per month it’s peanuts compared to historic QE – since 2015 the ECB’s bond purchases have totalled €2.65 trillion – but crucially the new programme has no set end date. Until inflation gets back to 2% and stays there, QE and zero rates are here to stay.
4 mins
The weight of a pound
A ghoulish Brexit is weighing on sterling and Donald Trump trade war with China is weighing on the Federal Reserve. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth looks at the effects of both.
7 mins
It doesn’t add up
Stocks soared to new highs in June, but more pessimistic bond markets tolled a more ominous note amid weaker growth, falling earnings, trade tussles and other troubles. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth considers the mixed messages coming from stocks and bonds.
4 mins
New EU inmates take over the asylum
The world seemed to unravel further last month, with British voters electing members to the EU Parliament whose goal is to leave it, and Donald Trump continuing to wield his trade cudgel. Our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth considers the implications.
5 mins
Mixed signals
Equity markets are in a happy mood, climbing through a fog of uncertainty with omens of recession tolling from the bond market. Julian Chillingworth, Rathbones chief investment officer, explains why we think it still makes sense to stay invested, but with vigilance.
3 mins