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
Mopping up the greenwash
Working the doom-scrolling nightshift sends Rahab Paracha deep into the metaphorical forest on the problem of ‘greenwashing’. Our sustainable multi-asset investment specialist looks at the regulator’s proposed new rules to stamp the practice out among fund managers.
5 mins
The Abominable Bond Men
The UK government has shattered against a new generation of bond vigilantes. Halloween came early this year, notes multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte.
4 mins
Schrödinger's assets
Property funds are stinging investors once again because of a run of redemptions. Senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown notes their net asset values are in a happy superposition right up till the point they get measured.
5 mins
Being green is in fashion
Fashion companies are falling over themselves to show they are improving their questionable sustainability credentials. Yet some of their marketing has got ahead of realities of the shop floor, notes sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha.
5 mins
How to lose friends and alienate people
The UK government has given a textbook example of how not to deliver a message. Our multi-asset portfolios fund manager David Coombs picks over the wreckage and finds coherence, but poor execution.
5 mins
How many possible futures are you prepared for?
The world has fundamentally changed, argues Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Carl Stick. Higher interest rates and higher inflation mean that cash earned today rather than tomorrow has become much more valuable.
4 mins
Treat yourself
London has been extremely busy in a sun-drenched summer, yet a difficult winter looms. Sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha asks whether luxury brands are a counterintuitive way to invest defensively in a recession.
4 mins
Reasons to be cheerful
With a tough winter approaching, our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs has dusted off the barbell. All the exercise has made him chirpier than usual.
4 mins
Tomorrow Never Knows
After a hard day’s night investing clients’ cash, our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs has neglected his own savings. Yet given the Bank of England’s tough stance, are there now savings rates worth shouting about?
3 mins
My Generation (Z)
If you have to ask what’s going on, you’re too old. Lucky for you, our sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha is (almost) young enough to get down with the kids.
5 mins
Snubscriptions
With inflation running hot, senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown takes stock of his forgotten subscriptions.
4 mins
Peak inflation?
As our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs balks at the cost of a couple of cups of coffee, he explains why he thinks inflation may be getting close to peaking.
3 mins