The bear market story and what next – in six charts It’s been the worst start to a year for markets since the Great Depression. We tell the story so far in six charts. Like a bear with a sore head, many investors probably wish they had stayed in hibernation in 2022. It has been a brutal year so far, the worst since the Great Depression [...]
33 reasons not to invest in the stock market City Talk Wars, natural disasters, economic strife, and pandemics – the last four decades have challenged and affected people’s attitude towards investing. In many cases they make an already tough decision to commit your money to investments even harder, leading some to not invest at all. Behavioral scientists have a name for this: loss aversion. They estimate [...]
What impact is “greenflation” having on commodities? City Talk Under-investment in the supply of commodities across energy, metals and agriculture, as a result of policies to mitigate climate change, is limiting supply growth and driving prices higher. Commodities outperformed bonds and equities for the first time in almost a decade in 2021. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these trends looked set to [...]
Will the world economy avoid an inflationary bust? March 23, 2022 Today’s high inflation is being compared to the 1970s. However, robust consumer spending, fuelled by pandemic savings, makes for a different set of circumstances. Memories of the 1970s were evoked as the price of Brent crude oil temporarily climbed above $139 a barrel in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That was a period [...]
How stock markets perform after heavy falls March 9, 2022 While public attention has understandably focused on the grave humanitarian consequences of the invasion of Ukraine, global markets have reflected investors’ concerns about financial and economic impacts. Our live blog on the Ukraine crisis will be updated regularly throughout the week, it can be found here. To date the current crisis has seen major markets fall [...]
Ukraine invasion: markets one step closer to “peak uncertainty” February 25, 2022 We’re all shocked and saddened by events in Ukraine. Although we are talking here about the impact on markets, we acknowledge first and foremost that this is a human crisis with potentially awful consequences for millions of people. However, at times like this our clients expect us to stay level headed, which is what we’re [...]
16 years of returns: History’s lesson for investors February 2, 2022 This graphic shows the best and worst performing assets each year since 2006, and shows the powerful benefits of diversifying your investments. The temptation among investors is to stick with what you know. That is no bad thing. It is a strategy championed by successful investment pioneers such as Warren Buffett, a famous devotee of [...]
Is the “Santa Rally” real? December 2, 2021 Investors found their festive spirits in 2020 despite a raging pandemic. Even with most of the global economy shut due to Covid-19, US stocks recorded their best December monthly return in over a decade, with the Ibbotson SBBI US Large Cap index returning 3.8%. It was the second year in succession that US stocks have [...]
Podcast: The plastic problem facing investors August 11, 2021 Read the full transcript Part one: The weight of plastic worth all the fish in the sea Ashleigh Cowie (AC): In doing research for this podcast I came across this astonishing fact. Are you ready for it? David Brett (DB): Go on then. Hit me with it. AC: Right now, there are more than 5 trillion pieces of [...]
32 reasons not to invest in the stock market June 28, 2021 Wars, disasters, economic strife, political instability and now a pandemic – the last four decades have challenged and affected people’s attitude towards investing. In many cases they make an already tough decision to commit your money to investments even harder, leading some to not invest at all. Behavioural scientists have a name for this: loss [...]
