Overall Market Backdrop, April Almost all equity markets sang to the same tune in April and saw negative returns, the only outlier being the UK market which saw very marginal positive returns. Central banks are now seen to be walking on a tightrope, causing concerns for investors as they tend to balance the pressure of […]
April began with a stark headline in the Mirror as the paper proclaimed it April Cruel Day. ‘Energy bills up,’ ran the accompanying text. ‘Council tax up. National Insurance up. Water bills up. Stamps up. Broadband Charges up.’ The threat of inflation and the accompanying cost of living crisis have been well documented, and unsurprisingly, […]
In the middle of March, Russia was due to make an interest payment of $117m (£89m) on two bonds denominated in dollars. There was some dispute over the payment: Russia said it had made the payment, the investors holding the bonds said they hadn’t received the money. The papers generally reported that if Russia didn’t […]
If you’re creating a financial plan, with a view to achieving certain ambitions in life, you need to include details. For instance, if you want to travel more in later life, you can’t simply say you’ll put money aside for holidays. Or if you want to retire early, simply putting money into a pension isn’t […]
Introduction April was not a good month for world stock markets. We report on a dozen major markets in the Bulletin: they were all down in the month, with the honourable exception of the UK’s FTSE-100 index, which managed a gain of just 29 points. Why was it such a poor month? The war in […]