Insight

Hopefully you enjoyed a good summer break. August was another positive month for many financial markets, with one pan-European (including the U.K.) index achieving a seventh consecutive advance. Whilst 2021 started with material concerns about COVID-19 challenges, limited vaccination numbers and widespread lockdowns, progress has been made on all fronts. No doubt the late August news that seven further countries have been added to the U.K.’s green travel rules, will further boost hopes that a return to previous norms are closer.

For most investors focused on the U.K., Europe and/or the United States, July was far from an unattractive month in all but a minority of equity sectors. This pleasingly allowed a further building of year-to-date returns. Meanwhile bond market yields generally tightened further. Although fixed income markets remain on average dull performers in 2021, performance has improved in recent months.

Tokyo Olympics: Gold Rush

The glory of winning a gold medal is a massive incentive for athletes competing in Tokyo but the impressive bonuses on offer add another more lucrative dimension to the games. The size of the bonus on offer varies hugely by country.Continue reading

C’mon England give us a goal!

Are we over Sunday yet….just about?  This article provides you with an insight into the England National Team journey over the last 10 years and explains the importance of goal setting.Continue reading

Bond market – Inflation? What inflation?

If you have had the pleasure of reading any Macroeconomic research in the past three months I can guarantee there will have been comments about rising inflation rates and the potential for inflation to be stubborn and force central banks to raise interest rates. Continue reading

Americans, bored in their COVID-induced ‘bubbles,’ turned to board games for fun last year, boosting sales 300%. They rolled the dice, drew the cards, and buffed the skills of cooperation, problem solving, emotional intelligence, and reflective logic — the same competencies critical to successful investment strategies. So, we couldn’t help looking back nostalgically to our favourite games — and probably yours — as we look forward to crafting a sustainable investment game plan.

The fifth month of 2021 will not go down as an important month for global investors. Most equity and bond market investors made some positive – but relatively modest – gains during May. And whilst COVID-19 vaccination progress across many countries has been notable over recent weeks, the general economic outlook across the U.K., United States and Europe has recently improved. Certainly underlying confidence for the rest of this year and into 2022 has improved over recent weeks.

Goldilocks or Little Red Riding Hood? 

On Wednesday we had a monthly reading of US Core CPI (core consumer inflation) which has got the market asking the above question. The reading was +0.9% which is a huge jump month on month, the highest for 39 years and well above expectations.Continue reading

April was another interesting month, with gains across almost all global stock markets led by the United States, but closely followed by the U.K. and Europe. Whilst the former two were significantly aided by continued COVID-19 vaccine progress and associated national reopening, Europe has started to make some progress too.

Sixty years ago, Marshall Nirenberg and Henrich Matthaei began the process of cracking the genetic code. Thanks to their persistence and resilience, today’s scientists developed effective mRNA-based vaccines in record time – saving millions of lives from COVID-19. With the darkest days of the pandemic behind us, investors can also appreciate the resilience of the economy and financial markets and the hopeful prospect of brighter days ahead.