A question of time horizons

2 October 2020

A US presidential debate that nobody would want to watch twice was followed by reports that COVID reality has finally caught up with a US president who insists that only he can determine what is real and what is fake has made...

A recovery on hold

25 September 2020

September continues to bite equity markets. Stocks everywhere wobbled again this week and even though they bounced back, the S&P500 is down around 8% in US Dollar terms for the month. UK investors might notice less of a fall,...

Taking a step back to look forward

18 September 2020

Stock markets have stabilised and started trading sideways, in a sign of healthy consolidation following their extraordinary recovery rally since late March. Notably, the darlings of the recovery, namely US large cap tech and...

Frictions and contradictions

11 September 2020

September has ended what now feels like a ‘goldilocks’ summer for investors, and political, societal and capital market frictions have returned to the stage with a bang. However, the fact that stock markets have not simply...

Market dynamic of a K-shaped recovery

4 September 2020

Markets’ summer holidays are over. Throughout August, risk assets made some impressive gains, while the global economy remained in its deepest ever recession. After equities were then catapulted to eye-watering valuation levels,...

Big tech gets bigger while the Fed takes the easy option

28 August 2020

In a week where Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in earnest, global investors showed it is indeed “America first”. US equities continue to push at all-time highs, having recovered everything lost in March’s...

COVID II the sequel – as scary as the original?

14 August 2020

The pleasures, and then increasing discomfort, of the UK’s unusually broiling August weather offered a welcome distraction from the seemingly never ending COVID news flow of gloominess. As the heatwave came to an end with a...

Summer sunshine beckons, but politics still casts a long shadow

31 July 2020

As July ends with stifling temperatures, thoughts can turn to the month ahead. August capital markets can be either quiet or decidedly choppy. As investors go on their summer holidays, daily trade volumes decline and liquidity...

PPE = Politics, Pressure and Economics

27 July 2020

In this delicate economic and financial environment, the world of politics can have a big impact on capital markets. This week, we saw both heads of that political beast, with news stories first buoying and then bruising market...

Discomfort of disappearing safety nets

17 July 2020

The summer season has started in earnest and yet, unsurprisingly, this year everything feels different. Most of us are relieved restrictions are easing, meaning we can go about our lives more like how we were used to until a few...