Knowledge and insight

Global markets have been focusing on US rate cuts over the past few months. But investors are increasingly looking to governments to stimulate growth, with a record 57% of fund managers saying fiscal policy is too restrictive, according to a recent survey of fund managers by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

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.

The UK’s first December general election in nearly 100 years punctuated an eventful year for politics and the economy. Financial markets experienced a series of mood swings throughout 2019, but ended on a high as investors regained their appetite for risk. Despite ongoing uncertainty, including Brexit and trade tensions between the US and China, we remain positive about the outlook for 2020.

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.

2019 has been a year dominated by geopolitical uncertainty from factors ranging from Brexit to Trump and trade wars, but how have markets reacted? Julian Chillingworth, Chief Investment Officer discusses some of the surprise stories of the year, and outlining what to look out for in 2020

"Making America great again” was always a paean to Ronald Reagan’s 1980s, so it makes sense that the Donald is turning the clock back on global trade. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth takes a trip down memory lane.

While the US continues to dally over a trade deal with China, Russia has forged one of steel and gas with the Eastern giant. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth ponders a gas pipeline in frozen Siberia.

But within international ‘norms’