Economic and market insight
Review of the week: Just like the old days
Review of the week: A strange and profitable year
Another COVID-blighted year has passed. Yet, for all the turmoil, 2021 was a great one for markets.
Review of the week: Christmas at risk
Déjà vu in the UK. With COVID cases mounting once again and restrictions piling up, everyone is wondering whether Christmas will be cancelled once again.
Review of the week: Still plenty of punch in the bowl
Market sentiment has been swinging wildly lately, but in this week’s review chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth explains why he thinks the supply of festive spirits won’t run dry.
Review of the week: It’s all Greek now
A worrying new strain of COVID-19 has upended confidence in economic recovery, the path of interest rates and potentially the arrival of Father Christmas.
Review of the week: COVID season
It’s shaping up to be another winter tarnished by the virus. As if central bankers needed more complexity on top of huge government spending, upended supply chains and confused labour markets.
Review of the week: A different climate
The outcome of COP26 has left many people feeling blue about our fight to stop global warming. But that disappointment actually shows how much has changed in a few short years.
Review of the week: Big ambitions, bigger uncertainties?
The eyes of the world are watching COP26 for bold action on climate change. Meanwhile, the UK chancellor envisages a ‘new age of optimism’.
Review of the week: Fortune-telling statistics
Official statistics are in flux as UK policymakers ponder their plans for the future. Meanwhile, third-quarter US company reporting is off to a great start.
Review of the week: Tug-of-war
Investors grapple with change as inflation rides higher and economic growth bounces back. Central bankers must come to terms with the new environment as well or risk making bad decisions.
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Earnings are booming in the West as the recovery rolls on despite investor nervousness.
Recent inflation headlines have made for uncomfortable reading, and volatility picked up as investors remained sceptical of policymakers’ messaging. But we don’t think rising inflation is here to stay as there are too many other phenomena that will push it down.
America is opening up along with the spring blossoms, and a strong summer of spending seems to be on the way. The rebound in fortunes has helped the S&P 500 reach new highs which, as chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth notes, go hand in hand with rising yields.
Bond yields and a new season’s flowers both sprung up last month, heralding an end to the dark days of lockdown winter. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth ponders the big question on investors’ minds – does this also foreshadow a prolonged period of higher inflation?
After a busy start to the year there’s still a lot of uncertainty swirling around in markets. But economies tend to bounce back hard after sombre periods, and hope remains that our eventual return to ‘normal’ will be no different.
A roller-coaster of a year finished on a high note for the markets, and we start 2021 with a sense of relief that one of the most difficult years many of us have ever experienced is behind us.
With a clutch of vaccines on the way soon, equity markets were in a buoyant mood in November. But there are still a lot of things we don’t know – and even some things we don’t know that we don’t know…
Equities fell in October as investors came to terms with tighter lockdown restrictions, but hopes for a new round of US stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden have buoyed markets, and Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth reckons we should take heart.
With summer fading into memory, a long uncertain winter of social distancing lies ahead. It’s easy to feel gloomy, but as chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth argues, we should try not to buy into the doom.
As summer winds down and the pandemic persists, governments are finding it hard to taper their support measures.
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2022: The year ahead. Maybe?
You’d think that two years of pandemic-induced uncertainty would persuade David Coombs to stop trying to predict the future, yet here we are. Our head of multi-assets gives his lucky dice another blow…
Not a Christmas quiz
The battle between personal freedom and governmental control is extremely important for economic performance, argues David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. It affects consumption, inflation, the currency and investment.
How green was your Black Friday?
Lots of companies have lofty green goals, but Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund manager Noelle Cazalis thinks many should be more accountable about their success in meeting them.
The blue economy
The ocean makes up 70% of our planet’s surface, yet it gets nowhere near the attention it deserves. Our sustainable multi-asset investment specialist, Rahab Paracha, looks at the next frontier of sustainable action.
Own the tent not the circus
COP26 has produced a lot of hot air, argues our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs, and that’s half the climate problem facing the world. The other half is empty gestures and a lack of action.
Will it be a good COP?
The eyes of the world are watching the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. As the parties begin their deliberations this week in Glasgow, Matt Crossman concludes this two-part series by laying out what needs to happen.
Cult classic
Scaredy-cat David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, explains why assets with overly reverent devotees give him the creeps.
Good COP, bad COP?
The eyes of the world will be watching the COP26 global climate summit next week. Our stewardship director Matt Crossman asks: what will make it a good COP? And how will we know if it’s a bad one?
Demanding supply chains
Reopening economies have strained global networks of distribution and upended labour markets. Silver linings though: it’s saved our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs £85.