Like most industries, the automotive sector has been hit hard by the pandemic. Carmakers were already struggling well before the first COVID case came in, with changes to emissions regulations, a global manufacturing downturn and structural shifts in demand providing fierce headwinds. A global economic shutdown then came at the worst time it could, as…
And Apple wept, seeing as it had no more worlds left to conquer. In 2018, Apple made history by becoming the first private company valued over $1 trillion. That milestone was 42 years in the making; but just two years later, Apple is worth double that. To make that feat even more incredible, the meteoric…
Capital markets were mostly steady – if a bit on edge – this week, as they have been for most of August. At least the US maintained positivity, although the extent of gains were not spectacular. Even so, both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices surpassed their February peaks in midweek trading, leaving the stock…
These extraordinary times for the global economy have forced the world’s central banks to extraordinary measures. As usual, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has been one of the chief protagonists during the emergency, cutting interest rates close to zero and funneling trillions of dollars into keeping the financial system afloat. But in recent weeks, we…
Throughout the pandemic, the UK has been beset by a host of unflattering comparisons. The statistics on virus cases, deaths and other health figures have consistently put Britain as one of the hardest hit countries in the world. This week, the press focused on a different kind of bad news: In GDP terms, the UK…
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 thunderous bang, so too did many of the UK’s summer freedoms. The reintroduction of widespread lockdowns at local level,…
Property can be an attractive investment. Like everything else, property prices have their ups and downs, but investing in ‘real’ assets can appear to hit a sweet spot, relative to financial assets like equities, bonds or cash. There is enough of a positive yield that holding it is preferable to holding cash, and not so…
At the Bank of England’s (BoE) latest meeting this week, a more optimistic than expected short-term outlook for Britain’s economy emerged. One of the most notable forecasts was its call on employment. While furlough and other emergency government measures have allowed many to keep their jobs and paycheques, some fear these policies are just papering…
Compared to the rest of 2020, July proved almost uneventful as global capital markets consolidated strong gains made during the previous quarter, with only emerging market equities and gold delivering notable advancements (see returns table further below). At the other end of the scale, poor returns from Japanese and UK equities confirms the trend of…
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 drops out of the market – meaning even small buying or selling pressures can have outsized effects. Of course,…