Economic and market insight
Review of the week
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
Review of the week: The tie that binds
The war in Ukraine has united typically quarrelsome European states against Russian aggression. Meanwhile, unity in President Vladimir Putin’s nation has been enforced through the strength of an authoritarian regime.
7 mins
Review of the week: Defiance
Russia’s invasion at first wrong-footed both Ukraine and the West, but the defenders’ resolve has been tougher than expected. Now, financial sanctions are hitting Russians hard.
8 mins
Review of the week: Back to the shops
UK retail sales bounced back after a COVID-crushed Christmas. Yet the longest income squeeze since Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister is set to intensify in the coming months.
6 mins
Review of the week: War looms
Talks to ward off conflict over Ukraine are failing and a Russian invasion is reportedly imminent. Is it brinkmanship or a real risk?
5 mins
Review of the week: Bank on a tough year
The Bank of England seems poised to raise interest rates aggressively to combat inflation, yet its explanations don’t square with its own forecasts and analysis. Expect fewer hikes than the market currently implies.
7 mins
Review of the week: Tighter money
The years of loose money are coming to an end. That will cause some short-term upheaval in markets, but if economies remain strong stocks should soon bounce back.
7 mins
Review of the week: Getting ahead of the Fed
Bond yields have been climbing almost as much as investors’ worry levels. Pausing to remind ourselves what central bankers are trying to achieve – and how stocks typically react – is helpful.
6 mins
Review of the week: Just like the old days
With COVID cases starting to roll over – in the UK at least – and investors settling down for some old-fashioned Fed watching, everyone is hoping 2022 will be a bit more like pre-pandemic times.
6 mins
Review of the week: A strange and profitable year
Another COVID-blighted year has passed. Yet, for all the turmoil, 2021 was a great one for markets.
5 mins
Another can gets kicked
Some optimism has helped to bolster markets which have rebounded from the dog box they were in. Julian Chillingworth, Rathbones chief investment officer, explains why we are cautiously confident but still mindful of the looming threats to global growth.
4 mins
Detachment from market mood swings
With markets lurching from greed to fear and back again, Rathbones head of multi-asset investments discusses the importance of having good shock absorbers in your portfolio.
3 mins
Actions speak louder than tick boxes
Mass reporting on ESG factors could backfire, warns David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. Better to have active engagement and a deeper understanding of the companies you invest in.
3 mins
Mixed signals
Equity markets are in a happy mood, climbing through a fog of uncertainty with omens of recession tolling from the bond market. Julian Chillingworth, Rathbones chief investment officer, explains why we think it still makes sense to stay invested, but with vigilance.
3 mins
Thinking for yourself
Don’t let robots blindly guide you, warns David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. Algorithms are great investors right up to the point when things change – which is more often than programmers would like.
3 mins
How smart is ’smart beta’?
Should you expect to get what you pay for when it comes to managing your clients’ investments? Julianne Smith poses the question - how smart is ‘smart beta’?
3 mins
Don’t bet the house on it
Rathbones’ head of asset allocation research Ed Smith explains why advisers should encourage their younger clients not to rely on property wealth when it comes to funding their retirements.
4 mins
Staggered
Theresa May has had almost as rough a week as our multi-asset funds assistant manager Will McIntosh-Whyte. Recuperating from a stag party, he wishes Brexit was as simple as his friend’s send-off to married life.
3 mins
Reality cheque required
Ed Smith, our head of asset allocation, looks at the savings shortfall younger generations are likely to face when they reach retirement, and what advisers and their clients can do about it.
3 mins
Beats me
Nothing hurts more than expecting a cheque yet receiving a bill. Unfortunately, this is happening to millions of Americans right now, explains chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.
4 mins
Don’t blame the young
Ed Smith, our head of asset allocation research, debunks the myth that millennials have themselves to blame for the challenging financial futures they face, and provides a dose of reality for advisers and their clients of all generations to consider.
4 mins
Bad excuses for bad businesses
Almost two hours late and on his third pair of trousers, our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, isn’t in the mood for half-baked equivocations by UK company managers.
3 mins