In some ways, May was a relatively quiet month. Although, it did bring us the marriage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first PM to marry in office since Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, in 1822. Having eaten a slice of wedding cake and gone straight back to the office, Boris Johnson will be […]
For many years it has been the accepted wisdom that you should diversify your investment portfolio. That means diversifying by types of investments – with say, your exposure to the stock market balanced by more cautious investments in bonds and, perhaps, funds that invest in property. Common wisdom says you should also diversify geographically – […]
In the middle of May pubs and restaurants reopened after lockdown. Finally, we could have a drink or a meal inside. But what was noticeable was the number of pubs and restaurants that didn’t reopen. Speaking on the BBC News, the owner of one establishment gave a very simple explanation: “we cannot get the staff.” […]
Overall Market Backdrop, May While recent performance has been in direct correlation with vaccine rollouts and supportive economic data, equities have been more muted in May due to inflation fears looming over global equity markets. Among the developed markets, Europe is noteworthy for its performance in May, driven by its vaccine rollout success which has […]
‘Fail to plan, plan to fail.’ It’s an expression that anybody who has worked in management or the military must have heard a thousand times. Like all oft-repeated clichés, it carries a kernel of truth – and in no aspect of human life is the phrase more apt than in financial planning. Unless you have […]
Introduction Some of the numbers in this month’s Bulletin are simply staggering. Whether it’s Amazon’s profits or the ‘investment’ (which could alternatively be considered ‘spending’, depending on your political viewpoint) announced by President Biden. There was a time where the ‘standard unit’ of currency we talked about was a million. Company profits and valuations were […]
At a seminar in March, Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, suggested that the central bank should immediately start “preparing thoroughly” for a future with its own cryptocurrency. While there were no immediate plans to introduce a cryptocurrency Kuroda stressed the importance of being ‘thoroughly prepared’ should the need arise. In April it […]
For the last seven years the title of the city with the most billionaires has been held by New York, but this year a new name has taken over and that city is Beijing. According to the latest Forbes annual rich list, the Chinese capital added 33 billionaires last year, taking its total to 100 […]
At time of writing, the UK’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares is at 6,882 – up 7% on where it ended 2020. In the US the Dow Jones index is up 11% for the year at 33,821 with other major markets around the world also making significant gains in the first four months of […]
Overall Market Backdrop, April – The optimism that spearheaded equities in Q1 has continued to run through in April; vaccine rollouts in the UK and USA has sustained the momentum gathered in Q1. – Successful vaccine rollouts have created an atmosphere of optimism for global growth and this is shown by the rise in bond […]