Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: Independence Day lockdown
People are extremely adaptable as prolonged lockdowns have shown. Yet chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth ponders how changes to the way we live will shake out in the coming months and years.
6 mins
Review of the week: Money showers
After the pandemic response, outstanding UK government debt is now as big as the whole economy. But that’s not necessarily an alarm bell, says chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, as long as it’s spent on the right things.
6 mins
Review of the week: KA-boom
Stock markets are soaring higher as the developed world starts to relax lockdowns. Yet the virus is spreading rapidly in the emerging world, notes chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, and there’s still a chance of a second wave in the West.
6 mins
Review of the week: Injustice burns
America seems chaotic from the top down. Yet, if you look hard at the bottom – main street – you can get a better idea of how the US is faring, argues chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
6 mins
Review of the week: A matter of perception
While we’re all theorising about whether looking at a castle is the best form of optometry, really important issues are going unaddressed. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth stays focused on what matters.
7 mins
Review of the week: The most important resource
7 mins
Review of the week: Influencing behaviour
The government has unveiled its lockdown exit plan to mixed reception. Our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth thinks attention is best paid elsewhere.
7 mins
Victory is coming
This Friday we remember the victory of an older generation. They won peace and reshaped the world, becoming a timeless example for humanity, argues our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
7 mins
Review of the week: Too much oil
Crazy phenomena like negative oil prices will keep popping up over the coming months, warns our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. Investors will ignore most of it, but when they do panic, stocks could return to their March lows.
7 mins
Review of the week: Peak sadness
Stocks have shot higher even as people are laid off in droves and the virus continues to spread. Investors aren’t cheering misery, our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth explains, they are trying to predict the future.
6 mins
Review of the week: The Bramble Bush
With the virus outbreak still in full swing, some Western nations are already mulling a relaxation of lockdown. In the US, that has led to a showdown between the layers of government. These are tough decisions to make, notes our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
6 mins
Back to the cycle
The era of virtually zero percent interest rates is over. Rathbones head of multi-asset investments David Coombs believes that means a return to boom and bust, and he outlines which businesses are most at risk.
4 mins
Guarding your assets
Watching the Super Bowl in the wee hours of the morning makes senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown misty eyed for his days playing guard somewhere deep in Essex and the past. It’s also a good reminder that not all gridiron players – or investments – are built for the same jobs.
5 mins
What a time to join
Our (sort of) new Rathbone Funds chief investment officer Tom Carroll joined us as a decade-long economic world order was ending with a bang. Did he have to search under the desks for his fund managers?
4 mins
When the love disappears
It’s Valentine’s Day so David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, is taking the duchess out for Pizza Express. Alright, it was a week ago, but he’s still a cheapskate. Just not when it comes to investments.
5 mins
Lessons from a tough 2022
Central banks dominated markets in 2022, sending UK smaller companies tumbling. Yet UK Opportunities Fund manager Alexandra Jackson argues 2023 will be a year when investors start paying attention to companies’ fundamentals once again.
2 mins
Low expectations, even lower valuations
Britain has suffered through an omnicrisis for almost six months and recession looms on the horizon. And yet UK markets have been a bright spot, notes Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Alan Dobbie. What’s going on?
4 mins
From ‘TINA’ to ‘TANIA’…
Head of fixed income Bryn Jones explains why even the most tenacious equity bulls are starting to acknowledge that the era of ‘there is no alternative’ to stocks is finally done.
3 mins
Run, Rabbit, Run
Ahead of the largest annual human migration in the world, China has opened the floodgates to economic growth and COVID-19. Multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte hopes the Lunar New Year is a happy and prosperous one, for the Chinese and for the world.
5 mins
2023: The year ahead. Maybe?
After a pretty questionable effort at predicting 2022, our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, dusts himself off and leaps into 2023.
2 mins
Great Expectations?
Multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte channels his inner Scrooge as he confronts Christmases Past and Present. Can they provide investors with helpful insights about what’s to come?
6 mins
Keeping warm without overheating the planet?
Old buildings that fail to keep in heat aren’t just expensive for their residents. They’re also costly for the climate. Head of Equities Sanjiv Tumkur examines some of the innovations seeking to address this challenge.
3 mins
Bonds and (investment) goals
As head of fixed income Bryn Jones remembers his favourite World Cup, he asks whether investors might want to think about revisiting their bond allocations as they try to meet their investment goals.
3 mins