Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: Will interest rates plateau after peaking?
Will the big central banks making significant interest rate announcements this week follow the ECB’s lead and signal that rates have now peaked? And where might rates settle longer term?
Read time: 6 mins
Review of the week: The good oil
Like virtually everything else, the cost of energy is much higher than it used to be. Combined with higher interest rates, it should keep squeezing economic growth in the coming months.
Read time: 8 mins
Review of the week: Not the August planned
Hopes for a quiet summer were dashed by difficult-to-read economic data, swinging bond yields and holiday dramas.
Read time: 5 mins
Review of the week: Soft landing?
Rather than a slow fade, the American economy produced a surprise surge. Yet with inflation within touching distance of the 2% target, US interest rates may still peak soon.
Read time: 10 mins
Review of the week: Higher or Lower
Interest rate hikes for the US and Europe are almost certain this week. All major central banks are getting close to calling time on rate increases, but the UK is likely to be the last to do so.
Read time: 9 mins
Review of the week: Running hot and cold
Inflation is falling nicely in the US, will British CPI follow suit this week? Meanwhile, China battles deflation as its economy stutters.
Read time: 7 mins
Review of the week: Interesting times for bonds
Normally staid bond markets seem highly strung lately, but there are reasons to hope for some loosening up
Read time: 5 mins
Review of the week: No rain, no rain
Economic data has been confusing for a while. Thankfully, there’s a central bank hiatus just big enough to slip Wimbledon into.
Read time: 5 mins
Review of the week: An independent scapegoat?
The Bank of England is throwing the kitchen sink at runaway inflation. Will it be enough, and are there some things that are outside its control?
Read time: 8 mins
Review of the week: Take the long view on rates
UK inflation may shock gilt markets this week. But if so it’s likely to be a passing phase as price rises continue to cool over the summer.
Read time: 4 mins
Review of the week: Skip, hop and jump?
All eyes are on the direction of central bank monetary policy. After expecting a policy pivot, investors now think the most likely outcome is a skip in tightening followed by a hop to pause mode before a jump to interest rate cuts.
Read time: 5 mins
Review of the week: The great retirement
The UK labour market is in a huge state of flux. The population is ageing fast, people are retiring earlier and changes to immigration are leading to a lack of ‘unskilled’ workers.
Read time: 7 mins
Hoarding Cash
Why take risk when you can be paid 5% or more to leave your cash at the bank? Because you’re forgetting about tomorrow, argues head of multi-asset investments David Coombs.
Read time: 5 mins
Squaring the dividend triangle
Striking the balance between delivering a tasty income today while sowing the seeds for higher dividends in years to come is the artful science at the heart of equity income investing. Rathbone Income Fund manager Alan Dobbie explains how he approaches the task.
Read time: 4 mins
Barbenheimer, renewables and the power of hype
Rahab Paracha, sustainable multi-asset investment specialist, finds lessons for sustainable investors in Hollywood hoopla.
Read time: 5 mins
What’s in a name?
Industry veteran David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, gets cranky about lazy labelling and job name inflation as he dispenses 40 years’ wisdom to budding finance acolytes.
Read time: 5 mins
The lights are still on for the US economy
Rathbone Global Opportunities fund manager James Thomson explains why he thinks the US economy may turn out to be brighter this year than feared. And can US stocks keep climbing if the economy slows, but doesn’t shrink?
Read time: 4 mins
Nothing to fear but fear itself?
After braving Italian traffic, Head of Multi-Asset Investments David Coombs is in no mood to sit on the sidelines. But he worries that the fear-driven race to avoid missing the stock market’s few biggest winners could screech to a sudden halt.
Read time: 3 mins
Time for a change
Much of the world’s water infrastructure has suffered from years of neglect and lack of investment. Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability Fund manager David Harrison looks at the solutions.
Read time: 4 mins
A far-sighted perspective on near-term bond market moves
Tilting towards shorter-term bonds has made sense as interest rates have marched higher. But Head of Fixed Income Bryn Jones explains why he’s now panning out to longer-perspectives and adding more interest rate risk (duration) to his funds.
Read time: 5 mins
Live long and prosper?
We tend to view the ageing of our society as a worrying thing. Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Carl Stick favours a more positive spin that recognises that greater longevity gives us longer futures, widening our options to work, spend and save.
Read time: 4 mins
Sustainability is about people, not just the environment
The planet and its climate get most of the attention with sustainable investors. Rathbones sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha explains why improving people’s lives is perhaps more important and how that may even help solve our environmental problems.
Read time: 4 mins
Why the long face?
After a tough few years for the UK, things are starting to look up, argues Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund manager Alexandra Jackson. The chances of recession have dropped, political stability has returned and profits are cheap. When will investors notice?
Read time: 3 mins
Of robot overlords and paperclips
Artificial intelligence is invading our world one conversation at a time. True to form, head of multi-asset investments David Coombs is hedging his bets about how it will affect his portfolios – and his job.
Read time: 7 mins
