Economic and market insight
Review of the week
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
Review of the week: Outline of a bear market
Stocks are flirting with levels that delineate a depressed market. The mood is gloomy and the risk of recession is real, but are investors pricing in too much bad news?
7 mins
Review of the week: The balancing act is back
Central bankers have spent years focussing their efforts on fighting deflation. Now that long-dormant inflation is back, they have to stop it from bedding in while avoiding sending the economy into recession.
6 mins
Review of the week: The dollar ascendant
US monetary policy is tightening, sending the greenback higher. This should ease US inflation even as it squeezes the costs of living and doing business for foreign markets.
6 mins
Review of the week: Behind the times
Central banks, squarely behind the curve, are preparing to raise rates swiftly. Inflation should be peaking, yet a European oil embargo is becoming more likely.
8 mins
Review of the week: The money squeeze
People are starting to react to increases in the cost of living, cutting non-essentials and spending less. Central banks are soon to follow suit by increasing interest rates further.
5 mins
Review of the week: A muddled view
The war in Ukraine has dampened global growth as waves of COVID-19 continue to roll across the world. Meanwhile, politics is back to the fore in Europe and America.
8 mins
Review of the week: Tipping the scales
Western central banks are trying to rebalance the scales in bond markets without causing a panic. Meanwhile, COVID-19 and bog-standard politics are still influencing markets in Europe and Asia.
8 mins
Review of the week: A pinch and a punch
Cost of living fears seem to be peaking in the UK as a raft of important protections end. How will the economy hold up as households and companies tighten their belts?
5 mins
Review of the week: An economic rerun of the 1970s?
The 1970s suddenly seem relevant again given soaring oil prices, high inflation and rising interest rates. But we’re not expecting a rerun of 1970s-style spiralling prices, sputtering economic growth and weak equity market returns.
6 mins
Review of the week: Bourses bounce back
This year has been grim so far, yet equities recovered much of their losses last week. Meanwhile, oil prices are all over the place and COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in the East.
7 mins
Review of the week: Changing point
Commodity markets are fuelling further inflation and putting global growth at risk. Central banks have shown they want to unwind years of emergency monetary policy regardless, sending bond yields higher.
7 mins
Can cloud computing withstand the heat?
With inflation as hot as London in July, the technology sector has been buffeted more than most. But equity analyst Ben Derber explains why cloud computing may prove to be especially resilient.
2 mins
Bye Bye Bojo
As the Conservative Party spends the summer trying to find a new leader our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs looks at the potential impact on economic strategy.
4 mins
Silver linings in the cloud?
Structural, long-term investment themes are particularly important at the moment as investors worry about the short-term outlook for many businesses. Equity analyst Ben Derber argues that cloud computing should enjoy a decade-long spending boom as enterprises seek to harness the benefits of this powerful new technology.
4 mins
Strikes are a warning for all
Strikes are synonymous with railway workers these days, but the reasons behind the latest one affect everyone, argues our multi-asset portfolios lead manager, David Coombs. Wages have stagnated for years, yet higher inflation is now making that untenable.
4 mins
Valuation matters
While the drops in the prices of some of the world’s hottest (and most expensive) stocks are eye-watering, Rathbone Income Fund managers Carl Stick and Alan Dobbie argue there’s a reason for the extent of the falls. They ask: did too many investors simply forget that valuation matters.
4 mins
The high cost of low prices
We’ve all got used to cheap flights, meals and clothes, but it was all predicated on low wages in many sectors, argues David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments.
4 mins
A significant milestone and a turning point?
As the UK gears up for its first-ever Platinum Jubilee, the Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund is celebrating its own historic milestone. Fund Manager Bryn Jones looks at what might lie ahead as bond markets move into a new cycle and the transition towards a greener, more circular economy gains still more momentum.
4 mins
A difficult balancing act
The UN-backed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created to balance the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainability. Yet the recent energy and food crises show just how difficult this can be, notes our sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha.
5 mins
Notes on a nervous planet
Can our overburdened planet keep supporting all the people on it? Bryn Jones, lead manager of our Ethical Bond Fund, thinks the swelling number of people on earth raises the prospect of big shortages of basic necessities. He explains how this impacts his team’s decisions and offers some hope that bond investors can help make a difference.
5 mins
Zombie financing
Charlton Heston and our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs have little in common. But they both hate the walking dead.
4 mins
The buzz on Anthropocene theory
We’re living in an era in which human activity is radically changing the planet, according to a raft of scientific data. Bryn Jones, lead manager of our Ethical Bond Fund, explains how this influences his team’s long-term decisions.
4 mins
In a world of my own
Bear markets are taking their toll. Our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, explains how his team are trying to protect portfolios and prepare for a better future.
4 mins