The reflation trade has regained traction in recent weeks with global bond yields rising and renewed discussions in the US on tax and regulatory reform, promising a fiscal boost. Added to the mix has been… Read the article
This year has not quite followed the script: investors were expecting improving economic growth and rising inflation to be accompanied by steeper yield curves, with the more defensive/quality stocks and so-called ‘bond proxies’ coming under… Read the article
There is no denying that the recent cryptocurrency boom resembles the one we saw among dotcom companies in the late 1990s. Celebrities then were taking equity stakes in start-ups in exchange for promoting them, and… Read the article
Earlier this year, data from the UK’s Continuous Mortality Investigation Mortality Projections Committee showed that life expectancy improvements have slowed dramatically. Initially thought to be a blip in the data, there is increasing evidence, both… Read the article
Last October, my colleague Tom Dobell wrote about the absurdity of how companies are forced to treat their long-term pension liabilities.
After another couple of reporting periods characterised by falling discount… Read the article
Like the ghost in Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” recent price action in Japanese equity markets has been an unwelcome echo of the past. Outperformance of stocks with more stable earnings streams has resembled the… Read the article
Scary stats abound around the ageing population and many column inches have been dedicated to the burden this will place on the health service and the pension system. But older workers could prove to be… Read the article
Are political surprises and uncertainty now the new normal? It could appear that way after yesterday’s general election resulted in a hung parliament after the ‘dead cert’ Conservative majority predicted just seven weeks ago. The… Read the article
US withdrawal from Paris Accord puts technology at the forefront of the climate challenge
As expected, and as promised during his campaign, US president Donald Trump yesterday announced that the US will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, the 2015 agreement setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets for… Read the article
As the General Election approaches, politicians on all sides will no doubt claim to be the best custodians of the UK economy. Brexit might be front of mind for many voters, but economic competence has… Read the article
The election of Moon Jae-in as Korea’s new president is, we think, good news for shareholders in Korean companies, as we expect President Moon to drive further improvements in corporate governance… Read the article
The active-versus-passive debate is once again back in the limelight with the news this week of low-cost passive provider Vanguard’s launch of new website for personal investors. This simply adds fuel… Read the article
For centuries, the parable of “The Blind Men and the Elephant”* has been used to illustrate how overemphasising a specific part of a complex situation can lead to the wrong conclusion, even if… Read the article
The UK stockmarket as a whole has performed very well over the last twelve months, despite the obvious disruption from the Brexit vote last June. A glance at the various indices shows that investors have… Read the article
Markets have reacted positively to Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen going forward to the second round of the French presidential election on 7 May. Polls on the second round now show establishment figure, Macron,… Read the article
Stock exchanges have been at the forefront in the news recently not least following the recent failure of the proposed merger between the London Stock Exchange and Germany’s Deutsche Bourse. As in other… Read the article
Fund managers naturally consider a range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in their investment decisions – much like they have always taken non-financial factors such as corporate culture, geopolitics and regulation into account… Read the article
What do Google and Facebook have in common with the recently listed Snap? Lofty valuations? Check. Internet companies? Of course. But perhaps less well known is their apparent apathy towards minority shareholders. Snap… Read the article
While 8 November 2016 will be mostly remembered for the surprise election of Donald Trump as US president, another momentous event was taking place in India at the same time. Narenda Modi, the… Read the article
You’d have got good odds on a horse positively influencing South Korean corporate governance, something that now appears increasingly likely.
You may have read about the scandal under which a number of South Korea’s family-dominated… Read the article
A few months ago my colleague, Sam Ford, explored the magic of compounding in his excellent blog: The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race. In this post, I’d like to flip… Read the article
Stock correlations are now at their lowest level since the GFC in 2008, prompting a seismic change in the investor landscape and a more favourable, less constrained market backdrop for stock pickers. Until last year,… Read the article
Whether it’s Brexit, Trump, OPEC or the celebrity death-toll, it feels like we have lurched from one drama to the next in 2016. Stock markets have taken all this excitement and chosen to run with… Read the article
Amid all the hysteria about the potential headwinds that the election of Donald Trump as US president will create for emerging markets, I remain resolutely optimistic about their prospects. Up to the election on 8… Read the article
Thanks to all of you who took part in the Equities Forum ‘Twelve Charts of Christmas’ Quiz.
The top prize for correctly guessing what all twelve charts showed goes to Sam Corbet of Ravenscroft, Guernsey.… Read the article
We are publishing three charts from 2016 every day from Monday to Thursday this week with the legends and other key information missing. Each chart comes with a clue to help you identify what is… Read the article
Here is day 3 of the Equities Forum’s first ‘Twelve Charts of Christmas’ Quiz.
We are publishing three charts from 2016 every day from Monday to Thursday this week with the legends and other key… Read the article
Here is day 2 of the Equities Forum’s first ‘Twelve Charts of Christmas’ Quiz.
We are publishing three charts from 2016 every day from Monday to Thursday this week with the legends and other key… Read the article
Here is the Equities Forum’s first ‘Twelve Charts of Christmas’ Quiz. We’ll be publishing three charts from 2016 each day between now and Thursday with the legends and other key information missing. Each chart comes… Read the article
Yesterday’s announcement by OPEC (The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) on cutting oil supply marks a significant change in strategy and effectively provides a back-stop for the oil & gas industry. Read the article
After a number of false starts, could it be that the much heralded ‘great rotation’ from bonds to equities has finally arrived? Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has accelerated a trend that began… Read the article
In yesterday’s blog, I discussed that while the Bitcoin currency system may not see widespread adoption, it gave us a unique piece of technology that would – Blockchain. At its heart,… Read the article
There’s been a lot of attention on bitcoins and blockchains recently, in particular the latter which is being heralded as a major disrupter in financial services. In a two part series this week, I will… Read the article
Thoughts ahead of the OPEC meeting
As OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meets on 30 November to decide on production cuts, much uncertainty remains regarding OPEC’s collective appetite to reduce production, how the reduction will be apportioned and the likely… Read the article
Urban sprawl chokes cities. That was a key takeaway for me from a responsible investment conference I attended earlier this year. If we want to help reduce carbon emissions we need the cities we build… Read the article
Don’t let the initial market enthusiasm to Trump’s victory in the US Presidential election detract from the longer-term themes investors in the healthcare sector need to consider and the limited visibility we have over how… Read the article
Guest contributor – Jean-Paul Jaegers, CFA, CQF (Senior Investment Strategist, Prudential Portfolio Management Group)
… however, what is often less debated is the impact that time can have on these variables.
This is relevant as… Read the article
Most investors are aware that the post-referendum UK equity market rally has not treated all stocks or sectors equally. Since 23 June, for example, the mining sector is up (+38.6%) to date, while retail stocks… Read the article
Many investors are rightfully sceptical of executive share-based compensation, particularly in the US. But the debate is typically around the adjustments made to companies’ declared earnings or the very large payments that can result, rather… Read the article
The thought of a ‘Brexit’ conjures up images of a drawn out, messy divorce for most – a painful process, with a net negative result. However, I believe that there are reasons to be hopeful.… Read the article
As the presidential race enters the final lap, rhetoric around political drug pricing remains high and the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors are lagging the broader market year-to-date. However, in my opinion, US political drug pricing… Read the article
Pensions: unrealistic assumptions for tomorrow cause real pain today
Pensions are long-term obligations. Falling interest rates have affected both the way that companies calculate the size of these liabilities, but also the assumed growth rates of the assets that they hold in order to… Read the article
Can brands survive in a digital world?
Why did L’Oreal spend nearly €7.4bn on advertising and promotional activity in 2015? Why does the market value L’Oreal shares at a 70% premium to the Stoxx 600? Because conventional knowledge suggests a strong brand… Read the article
China’s transformation over recent decades has generated some great investment opportunities. But the challenge for investors has always been how to reach them. For many years, overseas investors have been restricted to a limited selection… Read the article
In my last blog I highlighted that a big effect of the pound’s weakness post Brexit is to make those UK-listed companies that may have previously appeared attractive to overseas buyers,… Read the article
If you’re a sports fan, I would imagine the last six odd weeks of coverage from both Olympic games has had you frothing at the mouth, monopolising the telly and shouting down any dissenting channel… Read the article
As investors scour the globe for yield, one consequence of the low return environment is that companies making the highest payouts to shareholders are being rewarded by the market with higher valuations. This is the… Read the article
The growing disequilibrium between what bonds are implying through near-zero long-run interest rates and what equities are pricing in my view requires significant thought and attention, particularly for people saving for their pensions. I recently… Read the article
Having grown up in Kenya and spent lots of time in the African savannah, I have always been fascinated by herd behaviour. The annual wildebeest migration sees over two million animals migrate to find greener… Read the article
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are rapidly becoming the ‘must-have’ component of an investor’s portfolio. At the end of June, assets in ETFs hit a record high of $3.2 trillion globally according to data from research… Read the article
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OKWelcome to the M&G Multi Asset Team’s Allocation blog, previously known as the Episode blog. We have changed the name of our blog to resonate better with our readers in Europe, however, the content and purpose of the blog has not changed. The Allocation blog continues to aim to provide unique market perspectives from our dedicated team of experienced asset allocators.
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