Review of the week

As winter approaches, the news looks glum. Yet we should take heart from our ability to adapt, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. 

The infectiousness of COVID-19 means economic growth is often bundled with new cases. Governments, people and businesses have to make hard choices, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, and the conundrum isn’t going away soon.

As summer winds down and the pandemic persists, governments are finding it hard to taper their support measures. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth is chipper enough, albeit with an umbrella under his arm.

Congress failed to seal a benefit extension for unemployed Americans or figure out how to support cash-strapped states as the summer recess looms. It fell to the President to come up with a contested stopgap. 

Corporate results fared well during lockdowns, yet they are still well below pre-pandemic levels. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth examines why gold has hit record highs and why ‘riskier’ banks have done better than vanilla ones.

Investors have piled into gold as the reality of US-China diplomacy starts to resemble Aesop’s fabled fox and stork. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth also ponders whether US tech shares are priced for perfection as he looks ahead to some big earnings results this week.  

For months, the American economy has shrugged off a muddled response to the pandemic, posting better-than-expected numbers. Reality may finally have caught up, notes chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. 

The situation is a bit foggy right now, so investors are trying to figure out whether economies and companies are generally heading in the right direction. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth rounds up earnings and inflation.

Call it pluck or devil-may-care recklessness, the UK has committed to diving out of the EU completely in 2021, deal or no deal. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth takes stock of the situation.