Category: Investment Outlook
Special market update: Russian intimidation of Ukraine
16 February 2022From our phone calls and conversations we have with adviser firms, we know portfolio investors are concerned that the fear of Russia invading Ukraine is driving, at least in part, the poor start to the year experienced by capital...
Investment climate change
11 February 2022Stock markets around the world continued their volatile trading pattern over the past week, although compared with January, trending slightly up rather than down. Bond markets, on the other hand, continued to retreat as yields...
The Lagarde pivot hits insecure markets
4 February 2022We made the case last month that we disagree with the market maxim that “How January goes, so goes the year”, at least for 2022. After a disappointing January for investors (see our January market review), February made a...
Taper Tantrum 2.0 fears rattle markets
28 January 2022The unnerving start to the year escalated this week, with many lay observers attributing market volatility to the rising possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine. But as outlined in the video market update we posted on Tuesday,...
A bumpy road to somewhere
19 January 2022It has been an all-action year so far. Global equity markets have been in a downward trend since the end of 2021, led by US stocks. America’s mega-cap tech companies that were so loved throughout the pandemic have taken the...
Markets caught between hoping and dreading
12 January 2022London was a tale of two cities this week: Panic in Whitehall but calm in the City. The scandals seem to keep coming for Boris Johnson, with several Tory MPs openly calling for his resignation. Betting markets now have the Prime...
January déjà vu
4 January 2022Although 2021 did not close with another ‘Santa rally’, December – and the year as a whole – generated some pleasing returns for diversified investment portfolios. Compared to 2020 (another strong year in performance terms),...
Christmas tidings of comfort, if not joy
17 December 2021Dear readers, this week’s edition will be the final one for 2021 and we look forward to welcoming you back when we next publish on 7 January 2022. Looking back, the year has exceeded some expectations and underdelivered on others....
Plan B or not Plan B? That is the question
10 December 2021Equity markets bounced strongly on Tuesday. The catalyst was a flip in the coronavirus narrative that went: “the new variant is as contagious as the very first, but much less damaging. It confers some immunity. Triple-boosted...
The pre-Christmas ‘quiz’ that not many want to play
3 December 2021As the end of the investing year draws nearer, markets remain on edge, questioning everything that it thought it knew the answers to only very recently. But this week, central bank and government policy, inflation pressures from...