Category: Investment Outlook
Markets hold their breath
27 March 2026Donald Trump’s apparent olive branch to Iran helped to temporarily stabilise markets this week. Stock prices gained a little in the early part of the week, government bond yields fell back from recent highs, and energy prices...
Escalation precedes de-escalation
20 March 2026The Iran War keeps dragging down markets. Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas facility, followed by Iran’s strike on a Qatari liquified natural gas facility – the largest in the world – saw crude oil spike above...
Known Unknowns returns
13 March 2026The US and Israel’s war against Iran has plunged capital markets into uncertainty. No one knows how long it will last, what the endgame is or how much the global economy will be disrupted along the way. Markets are famously...
AI boom or doom
6 March 2026Global stocks went more or less nowhere this week. The UK and Europe’s strong runs continued, US markets consolidated, and China returned from holidays to find increasing overseas demand for the Renminbi. President Trump’s...
Stable indecision
27 February 2026The US Supreme Court just announced that cannot use the Emergency Powers Act to impose reciprocal tariffs. Stocks rose, US government bond prices fell somewhat, and the dollar weakened slightly. The moves are positive but not...
Anxiety under the surface
21 February 2026Stock markets were flat in aggregate this week. That is an improvement over the frantic action we have seen recently and, towards the end of the week, there was even some relief for beleaguered tech stocks. Below the surface,...
Flipping the narrative
10 February 2026US tech stocks dragged down overall global equity returns this week – the Nasdaq Composite index down nearly 3% in sterling terms. The AI theme that propelled the sector for years is now causing a crisis of confidence, over...
End of euphoria, back to normal?
3 February 2026Equity markets hit all-time highs on Tuesday and Wednesday, including a 1.5% gain for US stocks. But Microsoft’s earnings pushed the US back to where it started the week. The US tech giant’s spending and revenue figures reignited...
Weak links in the outlook
30 January 2026After a roller coaster week, markets end just a bit lower than when we started. Equity indices were mixed in their own currency terms. US investors will see their markets as slightly down, but US returns will look worse for international...
Are markets right to be relaxed?
23 January 2026Markets have continued their strong and broad-based start to the year. US threats on Greenland cooled a little into the end of the week, allowing regional politics to take focus. Japan’s Prime Minister announced a snap election...