News

Market Update 4th November 2024

News: 04 November 2024

Financial markets are in the midst of a crucial two-week period. In the UK we had the eagerly anticipated budget from the new Labour government, whilst the US had one of the busiest weeks of the Q3 earnings season with 5 of the Magnificent 7 reporting.

Budget Commentary

News: 31 October 2024

Market Update 28th October 2024

News: 28 October 2024

Rachel Reeves is due to announce her first budget on 30 October. It’s very likely the tricks will outweigh the treats.

Labour has said there will be no changes to VAT, income tax or employee national insurance. In politician (a particularly difficult language for non-natives) this means things like Capital Gains and Inheritance tax will very likely be altered.

Market Update 14th October 2024

News: 15 October 2024

Warren Buffett once semi-joked that any company that has an economist has one employee too many. It’s easy to see why. History is littered with examples of them getting things wrong.

Market Update 7th October 2024

News: 07 October 2024

Global trade is always more complex than it seems. Bans or large tariffs on trades may appear significant but there is always a way to get around them. I had a conversation with the fund manager at Havelock recently and we got onto this very topic, specifically titanium trading.

Market Update 30th September 2024

News: 30 September 2024

I have a former employer who once invested £2m of his own money into an investment trust and forgot about it. Admittedly this was March 2020 and quite a lot was going on, but it seems unusual. The reason I remember it very well is the trust had fallen about 20% in the two weeks since we bought it and amongst other things, this meant someone had to go and tell him.

Market Update 23rd September

News: 23 September 2024

Market Update 16th September 2024

News: 16 September 2024

Market Update 9th September 2024

News: 09 September 2024

We are now one week into September and it’s fair to say it is following some historic trends. September has been known to be the worst month in the US stock market. Some of this historically relates back to the 9/11 attacks and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy which both happened in September.

Market Update 2nd September 2024

News: 02 September 2024

Goodness me. It’s September. This has once again managed to catch me off guard.
With hindsight, the signs were there. We go around the sun at the same rate every year, and we count the days in August up to 31 every time. The only possible excuse for any confusion is that, based on the name alone, one would expect September to follow June, not August.