Economic and market insight
Review of the week
Review of the week: Now what, Prime Minister?
After a lengthy political vacuum over the summer, incoming prime minister Liz Truss must move fast to get to grips with a daunting set of challenges. An energy price cap (costing billions) seems inevitable.
8 mins
Review of the week: Bailey’s warning
The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is putting off a ghoulish vibe, giving people the chills despite the summer drought.
6 mins
Review of the week: England’s pride
A faultless tournament from the English women’s football team lands a team of dreamers a top-shelf prize, offering a welcome ray of good news in a tough year.
7 mins
Review of the week: All eyes on the US
The eyes of the world’s markets are firmly on the US as it gears up for a critical week of economic data releases and corporate earnings announcements.
5 mins
Review of the week: Hotting up
The central banks’ fight against inflation blazes on, now joined by boiling weather all over the Northern Hemisphere. Why does Europe have the toughest path ahead of it?
6 mins
Review of the week: No, Prime Minister
It’s bye bye for Boris after one scandal too many, yet it shouldn’t affect UK markets much if at all. Meanwhile, the Bank of England is making sure British banks are as safe as houses.
7 mins
Review of the week: A tale of halves
It was the worst six months in 50 years for US stocks, yet the market is still comfortably higher than before the pandemic struck. Risks have risen, but there’s also room for optimism.
6 mins
Review of the week: Back to the future
A solid drop in bond yields helped boost stocks and reminds us of the earlier days of ultra-modern monetary policy. Meanwhile, gas prices see-saw on the Atlantic fulcrum.
6 mins
Review of the week: Growth fears rise
With inflation running hot, central bankers are gearing up to hike interest rates fast. But this is worrying investors who think the economy may not be able to take it.
6 mins
Review of the week: Inflation persists
The price level is yet to find a ceiling, so the value of stocks and bonds have no floor. Markets will swing between hope and despair until inflation is inarguably falling.
6 mins
Review of the week: Is hot wage growth cooling?
Financial markets remain volatile as they try to gauge whether the healthy jobs market could stoke too-high inflation. Meanwhile, tensions between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his party are escalating sharply.
5 mins
Review of the week: So bearish, it’s bullish
Ever been so happy it makes you sad? Ever been so distraught it makes you smile? Humanity is complicated, which makes markets tough to read as well.
5 mins
Power to the people
Making our economies cleaner requires a complete overhaul of how we produce energy. Yet how we transmit, store and conserve that power is equally important, argues sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha.
4 mins
Are you concentrating?
Ten huge stocks account for almost a third of the US S&P 500. But concentration risk is even more pronounced in the UK market. Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund manager Alexandra Jackson explains that UK smaller and mid-sized stocks offer much better breadth.
3 mins
Mending fences
With his chickens scattered and fence repairs added to the list of weekend activities, Multi Asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte ponders whether previously traumatised investors in Japan’s stock market will finally feel safe returning to the coop.
5 mins
Building the UK’s future?
A home of one’s own seems like just a dream for an increasing number of property-obsessed Brits. Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Alan Dobbie considers whether a growing political consensus could help increase the supply of homes, bringing this dream to fruition for many – and more sustainable returns for homebuilders.
4 mins
The demographic challenge
The UK is ageing steadily as the large Baby Boomer generation arcs towards retirement and birth rates among younger people continue to fall. Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Carl Stick argues these shifts are already exerting immense pressure on so many aspects of life and the economy: pensions, taxation, vital services like healthcare, the jobs market, you name it…
5 mins
Close encounters of the bond kind
Think you might have missed the boat on bonds after a sharp rebound in markets? Head of fixed income Bryn Jones outlines three reasons why bonds are a still compelling investment choice for 2024 – particularly if you’ve got money parked in cash.
4 mins
Nvidia: from pastime to new paradigm
A business created to make computer game graphics more beautiful stumbled into driving AI, one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability Fund manager David Harrison explains what all the fuss is about.
5 mins
New frontiers
Bingeing on Apple TV’s counterfactual space race saga For All Mankind, senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown is reminded of the technological advances that come from defence industries.
5 mins
Business bedfellows
In love as in investment, the dependable day-to-day stalwart is always better than the mercurial surprise artist. So argues our in-house ‘Romeo’, multi-asset portfolios fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte.
5 mins
The post-Christmas appetite for bonds
The taste of turkey has faded in January, but corporate bonds have not. Rathbone Ethical Bond fund manager Stuart Chilvers explains how investors are still gobbling up bond issuance.
3 mins
What happens when UK investors go on strike?
It’s not only train drivers, doctors and teachers downing tools in the UK. Rathbone Income Fund Manager Alan Dobbie asks where all the investors have gone.
4 mins
Ceasing to worship at the altar of stock-pickers
Back in secondary school, our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs was a champion stock-picker. Although, he had help from his teacher’s direct line to the market – which taught him markets tend to be unfair.
4 mins