Expensive stocks & high debt: A concern for investors November 28, 2018 At no point in the lifetime of any investor operating today has the US not been the largest stock market on the planet and yet it recently notched up a new kind of record. According to numbers crunched by analyst Scott Irving of Jefferies International, at the end of September, the US accounted for 62.4 [...]
Inescapable investment truths for the decade ahead November 27, 2018 | City Talk It seems clear to us that the world investors have got used to over the last few years is very different to the one we need to get accustomed to in the years to come. We have identified a number of economic forces and disruptive forces we think will shape the investment landscape ahead of [...]
Should other countries take a leaf out of Trump’s economic playbook? November 20, 2018 | City Talk Global growth in 2017 was characterised by synchronised expansion by the world’s major economies. This was largely because robust global trade growth created a rising tide that lifted all boats. Since global trade has waned in 2018, economic growth has become less coordinated. While China, Europe and Japan have all seen their growth rates cool, [...]
European tech stocks slump in worst fall for seven years on Apple woes November 20, 2018 European technology stocks have been hit by their biggest quarterly drop since 2011, after production worries for Apple caused a global industry wobble. Stocks on the pan-European stoxx 600 tech index fell more than 1.8 per cent in trading this morning, hitting its lowest level since February 2017 and charting a quarterly loss of more than 14 [...]
Six reasons you should care about share buybacks November 15, 2018 | City Talk Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, recently hit the headlines with the announcement that he plans to spend almost $1 billion buying back shares in his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway. This practice has been increasingly common over recent years, with major implications. Buybacks have fundamentally altered the investment landscape over recent years. However, this is not [...]
US midterm elections: Is gridlock good? November 14, 2018 | City Talk Further tax cuts unlikely but will Trump strike a deal on trade? Keith Wade, Chief Economist, says: “The midterm elections restored some faith in opinion polls with the Democrats taking the House of Representatives and the Republicans holding the Senate. Conventional wisdom has it that a gridlocked Congress is good for markets as it prevents [...]
Winter is coming: Superdry looks to colder months after cautious first half November 8, 2018 Fresh from issuing a profit warning last month, British fashion group Superdry reiterated its weather woes this morning after saying that it had yet to see a sustained period of normal conditions, despite enjoying a second-quarter bump in sales. The FTSE 250 firm saw shares fall by over six per cent in early trading despite brand [...]
Shocktober: Seven charts that tell the story of the stock market’s worst month in six years November 6, 2018 | City Talk World stock markets fell 7.4 per cent in October as investors fretted about issues such as US-China trade tensions, European political uncertainty and the end of quantitative easing. The sell-off made it the worst monthly performance for stocks globally in the last six years and it’s the tenth worst in the last decade, as measured by the [...]
Paddy Power Betfair cashes in on US sales as revenues climb November 2, 2018 Paddy Power Betfair reported rising third-quarter revenues this morning, as new efforts to tap into US markets helped deliver much-needed sales in the wake of challenges closer to home. The bookmaker’s shares edged up two per cent in early morning trading, with revenues hitting £83m in the three months to the end of September, marking a [...]
Market falls: cause for alarm or calm? October 26, 2018 | City Talk Stock markets globally have been falling since the end of September. Economic worries including a potential trade war between the US and China, currency crises in Turkey and Argentina, debt problems in Italy and rising interest rates have seen stocks globally begin to fall from record highs. As the chart shows, since 31 August emerging [...]