Fintech: How does Blockchain fit into the future of financial services? May 11, 2017 | City Talk Blockchain is an often discussed, rarely understood topic. To get some perspective on the current thinking regarding blockchain, I had a discussion with Jennifer Qin, Deloitte’s lead partner for its investment management business in the Asia-Pacific region. Qin is a frequent speaker on blockchain technology. Larry Cao, CFA: What is blockchain all about? Jennifer Qin: [...]
Opec cuts are unlikely to lift oil prices above $60 a barrel this year, Apicorp report says March 20, 2017 Oil prices have edged lower by more than one per cent today while a new report suggests Opec's production cuts are unlikely to bump prices above $60 a barrel this year. Global benchmark Brent crude fell as low as $51.01 a barrel this morning while West Texas Intermediate slipped to $47.84. The new lows come on [...]
Investment manager Downing plans £100m float to launch new micro-cap trust March 20, 2017 An investment manager has announced plans to raise £100m through a fund float on the London Stock Exchange. Asset management firm Downing today announced plans to launch Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Investment Trust in May through a listing on the main market. The company will target investments in publicly-quoted UK companies with market capitalisations of less than [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 | City Talk Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]
House of Fraser owner Sanpower pulls investment in digital challenger bank Tandem March 20, 2017 Sanpower, the Chinese conglomerate which owns House of Fraser, has been forced to pull back on a multimillion pound investment in digital challenger bank Tandem, City PM can reveal. A £29m tranche of cash due to bolster the startup's capital requirements for launching as a full bank has been halted over concerns that Chinese authorities are [...]
Gold prices have hit a two-week high as the US dollar continues to edge lower March 20, 2017 Gold has built on gains made last week as the US dollar slides to six-week lows. The yellow metal edged up $5.30 to $1,235.50 per ounce, hitting a two-week high, after making substantial gains following the Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates last week. "Gold has continued its rally that began after Wednesday’s Fed meeting, with the fresh [...]
FTSE 100 falls off record highs to end the week March 17, 2017 The UK's bluechip index fell off a record high in late afternoon trading, but nevertheless ended the week almost 100 points up. The FTSE 100 finished at 7,423.6 points, 0.1 per cent higher. Both risers and fallers were a mixed bag, with insurer Admiral Group leading the way, rising 1.8 per cent to 1,941p, followed by healthcare [...]
How inflation helps ‘value investing’ March 17, 2017 ‘Value investing’ has been resurgent since last summer, as explained here. Inflation can help this type of investing. Kevin Murphy, an author on The Value Perspective blog, explains why. At the very end of last year, in our post Three important investment lessons to take from 2016, we noted in passing that President Trump’s intention to [...]
Is Denver the best place to live and work in America? March 17, 2017 | City Talk The Schroders Global Cities Index ranks the fastest growing urban economies in the world. We write about our favourite cities on the Global Cities Blog. With its close proximity to the Rocky mountains, a rich cultural scene and growing population, we explain Denver's popularity and what that means for global real estate investors. Sitting at [...]
The future of TV: Is it just the walking dead? March 17, 2017 | City Talk In 2014, Netflix CEO & Founder, Reed Hasting, prophesied that “linear” – or traditional broadcast – TV would be dead within 15 years. As the company has grown, so too has the belief that his prediction will come true. However, while the future of broadcast television looks very different, we don’t think TV is finished just [...]
