Category: Investment Outlook
Past the peak?
4 May 2018We wrote last week how we observe that – after the recent correction - stock markets now appear to have entered a consolidation phase, expressed by an unwillingness to rally despite daily announcements of exceptionally strong...
Confusing signals?
27 April 2018We are now over 90 days into this stock market correction and market action over the past week must have enforced the view of many lay investors that understanding what makes them rise and fall is beyond rational consideration....
A mixture of messages
20 April 2018As a youngster, our mum would occasionally treat us with a bag of “pick-n-mix” from the sweets counter at the old Woolworths. I say treat; we didn’t get to choose. I loved jelly babies, but the liquorice all-sorts were horrible....
Peaking, plateauing or dimming – and how about that war?
13 April 2018Considering the sheer volume of geopolitical war talk, it might seem surprising that stock markets ended the week up, not down. The reason for this is most likely that the probabilities for an actual trade war between the US and...
Could do better?
6 April 2018April and the second quarter of 2018 carried on exactly where March and Q1 had finished – volatile. The financial media made a big story out of the fact that markets had not opened the second quarter as poorly since 1929 - mostly...
End of a stormy quarter
29 March 2018Investors might think it appropriate that the first quarter of the year should end with a damp Easter bank holiday weekend (at least in the UK). After a pleasing last quarter of 2017, investors enjoyed what we refer to as a ‘melt-up’...
Now we know it’s risky!
23 March 2018Equity markets have taken a turn for the worse following the US’ probable imposition of “section 301” tariffs on China. Undoubtedly, events that increase uncertainty about the likely path of profits are bad news for any...
Back to Normal?
16 March 2018Over the course of last week it felt very much as though things were returning to normal after the short sharp shock in equity markets in early February. Stock markets in the US have returned to their previous long term trading...
Tariffs to growth
9 March 2018It has been one of those weeks where it is hard to decide where to start, where to end and what to leave out. Most welcome for investors were the ECB’s monthly announcement and the thawing of the relations between North Korea...
Time to take some profits
2 March 2018February brought a sudden, even if long expected end to the calm and steady rising equity market conditions. We wrote at length during the month what triggered the correction and what it is likely to mean going forward. In a nutshell,...