Economic and market insight
Review of the week
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
7 mins
Review of the week: Monetary mea culpa
UK inflation simply won’t drop as fast as everyone hopes, leading the Bank of England to admit it needs a new model. Meanwhile, a compromise is proposed to kick the can on the US debt ceiling till after the next election.
6 mins
Review of the week: The money eraser
Inflation can often seem an abstract concept. Not lately, though: everyone is keenly aware of soaring prices. Is inflation finally starting to drop?
8 mins
Review of the week: Expectations vs reality
There’s a disconnect between how everyone feels and how stock markets are moving. Meanwhile, the US debt ceiling looms ever larger.
8 mins
Review of the week: A very British coronation
A King is crowned and most of England went to the polls last week. Coming up is a Bank of England rate hike and an update for American inflation.
7 mins
Review of the week: Banking eagle, hawked
A regional bank caught up in the March banking crisis has been forcibly sold by an American regulator. Hopefully this marks the end of the chapter.
9 mins
Review of the week: Markets on edge as earnings season picks up pace
Investors are fearful of an earnings recession as reporting season steams ahead. Meanwhile, China’s first-quarter GDP estimate suggests its recovery is proving uneven.
7 mins
Review of the week: The cost of drama
Markets are riven over weighty questions about the economic strength of our households and businesses clashing with higher living costs, and all the while lurks the menace of unknown consequences created by a rapidly changed world.
8 mins
The vicar of drawdown
Too much lockdown TV is getting to David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. But he may have a point about the varied performance of risk-rated funds and models during the corona crisis.
4 mins
Do your homework
Toiling in the shadows is the lot of investment managers and analysts, argues our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs. For all the client meetings and webcasts, the most important job is finding quality investments. Which is why he had to travel to sunny California last year…
2 mins
Bond life
From his kitchen table our head of fixed income Bryn Jones gives his perspective on the bond life, where emergency stimulus has brought signs of life, but credit remains in a critical condition.
3 mins
No fooling this April
The traditional day of jest seems too bizarre to be true this year. Putting jokes to one side, our multi-asset portfolios fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte explains what he’s doing about income.
4 mins
All hail the awe-zoom tech
With most people in the UK bundled into lockdown, technology has once again proven itself. Our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, gives thanks to his team’s saviour.
3 mins
A sustainable stimulus
As Vladimir Lenin said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”. Our stewardship director Matt Crossman tries to grasp what the current pandemic means for the planet and our plans to save it.
3 mins
Working perfectly from home
With markets roiling round the world, the London office has decamped to their ranches on government orders. Rathbone Multi-Asset Portfolios fund manager David Coombs marvels at today’s technology.
3 mins
Sold out
With lots of things getting mispriced in the midst of the coronavirus panic, our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth extols the virtues of keeping calm and looking beyond the current disruptions.
3 mins
Just paying lip service?
David Harrison, manager of the Rathbone Global Sustainability Fund, having seen first-hand the growing trend of responsible capitalism in America, makes the case for getting up close to see whether companies are really serving all their stakeholders, or just paying lip service.
3 mins
Escaping the ivory towers
The latest ‘tech innovation’ may seem compelling, until you leave the group think echo chambers of London’s ivory towers. Head of multi-asset investments David Coombs considers how looking beyond the M25 can help us see what’s going on in the real world.
3 mins
Valentine’s stay
The novel coronavirus epidemic is threatening thousands of lives as well as the global economy. Multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte explains how the multi-asset portfolio funds are impacted by this humanitarian crisis.
5 mins
Sun, sea and … S&P 500 put options
You should be fixing your roof when the sun is shining, as the saying goes. Our multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown has been booking his holidays when the rain is pouring. His golden rule: don’t gamble, take the insurance.
3 mins