Category: Investment Outlook
Market wrestling
10 March 2023For weeks we have been talking of an equity market that is relatively expensive in comparison to bond markets, especially government bond markets. Below is a chart which tracks the dividend yield of the FTSE 100 (calculated from...
Mood swings
3 March 2023For some time, bond and equity markets have been experiencing teenager-like mood swings. As February ended and March began, government bond yields continued their march higher to levels last seen last autumn, when stock markets...
Balancing acts
27 February 2023Over the past fortnight, market participants have come to accept inflation – and in its wake interest rates – will stay higher for longer than previously anticipated. As a result, rising bond yields have been one factor pushing...
Markets acknowledge the enduring stickiness of inflation
20 February 2023After a surprisingly strong start to the year in January, February has brought market consolidation rather than a continued uptrend – despite the FTSE100 finally passing the psychologically important threshold of 8,000 points....
A challenging week brings investors back down to earth
13 February 2023For most of this year, investors have ran with the notion of a decline in longer-term inflation pressures, but they have been less convinced in recent days. As a result, bond and equity markets slipped back last week, despite...
Are central banks transforming from hawks into doves?
3 February 2023The week has been like the other four weeks of 2023: dominated by central bank action, inflation, and despondency over the UK economy. Meanwhile, stock and bond markets stayed buoyant. The monthly US jobs report could have upended...
Goldilocks in the air
30 January 2023Recent macroeconomic data releases across the western world report declining rates of inflation and no longer overheating (but nevertheless still positive) economic growth. In the US, the important milestone of the rate of personal...
Slowing growth throws markets into a bind
20 January 2023Last week we wrote that markets were rising because bad economic news was good news in terms of lessening concerns over interest rate rises beyond what is already expected and therefore priced in. This week, various economic data...
Football fever saves UK from recession
13 January 2023The new year is proving to be a happy one for almost all asset classes and regions. The FTSE 100’s intraday all-time high of 7903.50 is less than 100 points away at the time of writing, and we’re closer than we were last week....
January surprises
6 January 2023“Welcome to 2023” said the note on the restaurant door. The door was shut, the lights were off, and another note explained that rail strikes meant staff and customers were unable get there. All the venues in this City-of-London...