Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: 2022 wrapped up
We look back at a grim year for financial markets. The rebound in the last few months seems to offer investors some relief, but can we be confident that the worst is over?
5 mins
Review of the week: The upside down
Watchers of Netflix’s Stranger Things will know the Upside Down isn’t a cheery place to be. So what’s going on in bond markets?
6 mins
Review of the week: Behind the curtain
More is going on behind the curtain of modern China than its leaders would have you believe, if increasing unrest is anything to go by. Meanwhile, Europeans cross their fingers for a mild winter.
7 mins
Review of the week: Inflation slows, stocks surge
Stocks flew higher after inflation came in lower than expected. It’s tough and getting tougher for businesses and families though, especially in the UK.
6 mins
Review of the week: Imaginings and disappointments
Central banks are doggedly raising interest rates. Investors hopeful for a change of tack may continue to be disappointed for a while yet.
7 mins
Review of the week: Big Tech’s scary sell-off
Investors got spooked as Big Tech’s quarterly results showed they weren’t immune to economic headwinds, driving brutal sell-offs. Meanwhile, the UK government’s huge about-face seems to be reaping a ‘dullness dividend’.
6 mins
Review of the week: The price of milk
Inflation continues to eat away at shoppers’ spending power, both in the UK and abroad. Meanwhile, how do currency fluctuations affect investment returns?
10 mins
Review of the week: More than full circle
New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has reversed virtually everything announced in the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget in a bid to stabilise markets after weeks of turmoil.
9 mins
Review of the week: Credibility is the currency
The Bank of England has kept the gilt market greased and the Chancellor has brought forward the date he will reveal his detailed fiscal plans, easing pressure on the UK. Meanwhile, inflation still reigns supreme in investors’ minds.
7 mins
Review of the week: Maelstrom
Soaring bonds yields sent mortgage rates skyrocketing. However, they also upended pension funds in a nasty feedback loop that threatened to send many of them to the wall.
7 mins
Review of the week: Like a stone
The mini-budget will drastically reduce taxation and increase borrowing. It has rattled everyone, from the backbenches to bond markets. Will the gamble pay off?
6 mins
Review of the week: The Queen’s people
Hundreds of thousands of people queued for hours to pay their respects to the late Queen ahead of her funeral on Monday.
4 mins
The risk in doing good
Diversity, equity and inclusion is important to ensure businesses get the best skills, avoid group-think and better understand their customers, argues our Multi-Asset Portfolios lead fund manager, David Coombs. But – as with anything – risks remain.
4 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.
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.
4 mins
Barbenheimer, renewables and the power of hype
Rahab Paracha, sustainable multi-asset investment specialist, finds lessons for sustainable investors in Hollywood hoopla.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
3 mins