DEBATE: Should the City be optimistic about 2018? January 3, 2018 Should the City be optimistic about 2018? Gerard Lyons, chief economic strategist at Netwealth Investments, says YES. Be positive. The City will get a boost from LSD this year. L is for liquidity, which remains ample as the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank continue to ease, while the US Federal Reserve and [...]
If water firms still use ‘diving rods’, what magic should investors believe in? December 29, 2017 | City Talk With Santa Claus steeling himself to fill the stockings of more than two billion children in a matter of hours last Sunday night (NB: figures not adjusted for final naughty/nice calculations), Christmas is traditionally a time of magic or, perhaps, the willing suspension of disbelief. However, we do wonder if there is enough of either [...]
The unprofitable reality of tobacco stocks December 28, 2017 | City Talk Chestnuts may be roasting on an open fire – at least on the speakers of every shop we have visited since October – but here our focus is smoke. More precisely we will be considering its continuing disappearance as more and more people quit cigarettes – and what this could mean for tobacco companies and [...]
The FTSE in 2017: Five charts that tell the story December 27, 2017 | City Talk The FTSE 100, 250 and All-Share indices made strong gains in 2017. A record year for dividend payments and ongoing loose monetary policy from the Bank of England helped each index hit a record high in 2017. By the close on 13 December 2017 the FTSE 100 was up 5%. But it was outperformed by [...]
Which of the major stockmarkets are ‘cheap’ going into 2018? December 26, 2017 | City Talk Finding value in stock markets at present is like looking for the sixpence in a Christmas pudding. It’s there but it’s hard work finding it. Others round the table are likely to end up disappointed. Stock markets have been on quite a run for several years now and 2017 has failed to disappoint. Unfortunately for [...]
Are UK markets overstretched? December 21, 2017 | City Talk With the FTSE 100 and All-Share a wee bit below their all-time highs and valuations above average, many fear equities are too high and will soon fall. However, in our view, such worries are misplaced. Valuations aren’t predictive, and markets routinely set all-time highs during bull markets. We expect UK markets to keep making chart-topping [...]
Are UK markets overstretched? December 21, 2017 | City Talk With the FTSE 100 and All-Share a wee bit below their all-time highs and valuations above average, many fear equities are too high and will soon fall. However, in our view, such worries are misplaced. Valuations aren’t predictive, and markets routinely set all-time highs during bull markets. We expect UK markets to keep making chart-topping [...]
Doubts about ‘value investing’ have returned to their pre-dotcom crash high December 18, 2017 | City Talk Is legendary investor Warren Buffett losing his golden touch? On our Value Perspective investment blog, we would never dream of suggesting such a thing but type “Buffett losing touch” into Google and you will find plenty of financial commentators have, from time to time, had no such qualms. What is really interesting, however, is not [...]
Why consider investing in Asia now? Seven charts that tell the story December 15, 2017 | City Talk Asian stock markets (Asia Pacific, excluding Japan) have seen a decent recovery in the past 18 months. After such periods, there is a natural tendency to assume there will be a pause for breath. This is when equity valuations can be helpful. When money has been invested when valuations were low, it has, historically, resulted [...]
Outlook 2018: Another good year for investors? December 14, 2017 | City Talk As investors look ahead to a new year, they could be forgiven for wondering whether they will be as pleasantly surprised in 2018 as they were in 2017. A number of political worries on the horizon this time last year signally failed to materialise, including the likely shape of President Trump’s trade policies, the rise [...]
