January’s headlines were dominated not only by reports of lockdown parties in Downing Street, but also by growing tension on Ukraine’s border. Russian President Vladimir Putin massed his tanks on the border, with the Chair of the Commons Defence Committee saying that an invasion was “imminent and inevitable”, and a top Polish official said that […]
It is always tempting at the start of a year to look ahead and see what the next 12 months might have in store – and with technology changing more and more quickly, we thought we’d take a look at what could lie ahead in the digital and virtual worlds. Increased use of Artificial Intelligence […]
In the first week of the New Year there was a story that was widely reported in many of the papers. ‘More and more people pushed into higher rate tax bracket’ ran the headline with – according to which paper you read – either 1m or 1.2m more people are set to pay the 40% […]
Overall Market Backdrop, December In January, equities in developed markets have continued to fall throughout the month as concerns around monetary policy tightening, inflation, tensions in eastern Europe and a speculated earlier balance sheet runoff have remained prevalent. Volatility finally proved too hot to handle in January with the VIX hitting highs of 31%, offsetting […]
Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a good year for the majority of stock markets we report on in the Bulletin. We wrote that a year ago and – irrespective of all the ups and downs it brought – 2021 was another good year for world stock markets. All but one of the markets we cover […]
Two years ago working from home was a rare luxury: something you might do as an occasional one-off or as you recovered from an illness. Then came the pandemic and suddenly WFH – it soon became an acronym – went mainstream. As the vaccine roll-out accelerated people gradually returned to the office – but there […]
We don’t want to sit behind screens anymore. According to a recent BBC article, ever-increasing numbers of us have reassessed our work and our lives post pandemic, and we want to work outside. Quoted in the article David Rochefort, a former IT worker, said the pandemic made him want to do something ‘astronomically different.’ “My […]
Overall Market Backdrop, December Equities had a bumpy ride in December, spearheaded by a multitude of factors driving markets, from monetary and fiscal policy transition to pandemic uncertainty. Even with there being an abundance of reasons for market volatility, markets came out reasonably well and even yields continued to rise; the US 10-Year treasury increased […]
November was a month when supplies of both oil and gas – or the lack of them – dominated the news. You will read several comments below about the threat of inflation. In many countries, it is reaching levels not seen for two or three decades, and the escalating price of oil and gas – […]
In the middle of November, US President Joe Biden signed his $1.2tn (£894bn) infrastructure bill into law. Biden has described the bill as a ‘once in a generation’ infrastructure measure. “America is moving again,” he said as he signed the bill, telling the American people that “your life is going to change for the better”. […]