Alexander the Great was the first of the world’s great conquerors. Originally intent to exact revenge from Persia (modern-day Iran), he turned his adventure into global conquest and exploration. He marched his Greeks from Macedonia to modern-day Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, then back up to Iraq, finally conquering modern-day Iran.
As an analyst I hate metaphors. While they are a very useful tool to turn my thorough -but often thoroughly boring- analyses into actual readable pieces, they also almost always convey a false sense of proportion. One of the most...
According to data from the Financial Times and Bloomberg, investors have withdrawn more than £20bn from UK equity funds since the Brexit referendum. The number dwarves the £4bn estimated net inflows from ETFs during the same period.Outflows from funds and...
Is this a bubble or a source of returns for diversified investors? What is the "Uber bet"? We live in a low interest rate super-liquid world, with a lot of money chasing too few opportunities. Overall equity issuance has stagnated...
Understanding Q1 earnings, the framing bias and network effects. Wall Street analysts, paired with the management of big listed firms, often adopt an “under-promise and over-delivery” strategy when it comes to quarterly earnings releases. If earnings forecasts where truly well...
Read our full Market Update Week 17 Market Update Last week saw diverging performance in global markets as US equities delivered +1.6% in Sterling terms, however Emerging Market, UK and European equities returned -0.8%, -0.3% and +0.1% respectively. Robust earnings...
As the world slows down, it looks to China as both a cause and a solution. Will the world’s second largest economy come through? Read our MFP Quarterly Investment Outlook Q2
Read our full Market Update Week 15 Market Update Global equity markets were mixed last week following a period of strong returns. In Sterling terms global equities were down -0.1%, although in local terms were up +0.5%. In Sterling terms...
Read our full Market Update Week 5 Market Update Last week was a great week for markets with both real and financial assets posting positive returns. Equities were up in Sterling terms with UK stocks, the best performers of the week...
Read our full Mazars Quarterly Investment Outlook- Q1 2019 Outlook 2019 Sometimes it appears that the world is getting louder. The Norwegian Sociologist, John Galtung said that if a newspaper came out once every 50 years, it would not report...
Read our full Market Update Week 50 Market Update Last week the main driver for UK investor returns was the weakness in Sterling, which fell -1.1% vs USD and -0.5% vs EUR. The majority of the drop came on Friday as...
Read our full Monthly Market Update December 2018 November data indicated that the global economy continues to slow, despite a pick up in the services sector, as trade conditions deteriorate. Risk asset divergence, a theme of the previous quarter, seems to...
Read our full Market Update Week 49 Market Update US equities sold off significantly last week, down -4.4% in Sterling terms, as trade war concerns weighed on American stocks, erasing the gains made in the previous week. Global equities were down...
Read our full Market Update Week 48 Market Update Last week US equities had already seen a solid rebound, up over 2% for the week in US Dollar terms, when on Wednesday Jerome Powell's apparent U-turn on interest rates, stating...
Read our full Market Update Week 47 Market Update Equities fell across the globe last week, with the US suffering the largest decline as technology mega-caps sold off. Facebook is down over 25% year-to-date, suffering from both idiosyncratic factors, such as...
Read our full Market Update Week 46 Market Update Global stocks continued their rebound this week, with both Global and European equities up +0.3%. Emerging Market equities led the pack, returning +2.5% as the slide in oil prices gave a boost...
Read our full Market Update Week 45 Market Update US stocks continued their rebound this week, with energy and financials sectors up +1.4% and +1.5%, while the tech sector suffered as Amazon and Apple saw big falls. General Electric also fell...
In recent years value investors in the US have watched as growth stocks have soared and provided excellent returns to shareholders. Some investors have even begun to call value investing a "dead strategy". There are two primary schools of thought...
Read our full Market Update Week 44 Market Update Global stocks rebounded this week, with Emerging Market equites soaring over 5% in GBP terms. The S&P 500 was up 1.9% and Japanese equities saw a healthy rebound returning 3.4%. US 10-year...
Read our full Market Upate Week 43 Market Update Global stocks continued to slide this week, with US stocks leading indices lower, the S&P 500 falling -2.2% in Sterling terms. The NASDAQ lost -3% due to disappointing results from Tech...
Read our full Mazars Quarterly Investment Outlook - Q4 2018 Global Divergence In an early 2010 report Morgan Stanley warned that the biggest consequence of the 2008 global financial crisis could be isolationism and the reversal of a 50 year...
Read our full Market Update Week 42 Market Update US indices rebounded this week, leading the pack with a +1.3% gain after the significant correction that investors have seen in recent weeks. US stocks are climbing as tax cuts have lead...
Read our full Market Update Week 41 Market Update Global indices suffered significant falls last week, down -4.1% in local terms and -4.5% in Sterling terms. US equities led the weak performance, experiencing their biggest losses in 8 months on...
Read our full Market Update Week 38 Market Update UK stocks traded higher with the FTSE 100 edging closer to the 7500 level, closing at 7472 point, up +2.65% for the week. In the US the S&P 500 reached new highs,...
Read our full Market Update Week 36 Market Update Equities saw sizeable falls across the board last week, both in local and Sterling terms. UK stocks fell -2.0% with US and Global stocks down -0.7% and -1.5% in GBP. Other...
Read our full Market Update Week 34 Market Update Last week and Monday was a positive period for risk assets, with global stocks returning +0.7%. EM equities gained the most, up +3.2% in Sterling terms and 4.6% in local terms,...
Read our full Market Update Week 33 Market Update Returns were mixed for equities in local terms as, aside from US equities which made a +0.7% return, all major regions fell. Similarly in Sterling all markets were down bar US...
There has been a lot of coverage of Elon Musk’s musings as to whether he will take Tesla private again, having publically listed the company in 2010. Having shares listed in a company is supposed to bring benefits of increasing...
The US stock market has made some impressive gains year-to-date. In January the S&P 500 reached a record high of 2872.87, with the exchange falling just 10 points short of this figure two weeks ago. Apple also recently made headlines...
Read our full Market Update Week 32 Market Update As the pound continued its decline into last week, in local terms equity markets fell across the board aside from UK equities which made a +0.6% return. In Sterling all markets...
Read our full Market Update Week 30 Market Update Japanese and Emerging Market equities lead markets higher last week, gaining +2.6% and +2.2% respectively in Sterling terms. These regions had their best week in more than two months, as China’s stimulus...
Read our full Market Update Week 28 Market Update Global markets were up last week by +1.4%, despite a mid-week blip as once again Donald Trump increased the stakes against China, threatening tariffs on $200bn worth of exports. US stocks...
Read our full Mazars Quarterly Investment Outlook-Mind the liquidity A cautionary tale There’s an old story about a man who was marooned on a deserted island. Searching for food and water, he instead found a cave hiding a chest of...
Read our full Market Update Week 26 Market Update Global equities saw a second straight week of negative performance, down -0.7% in Sterling terms, with all major indices experiencing falls in both local and GBP terms. Once again escalating trade tensions...
Currencies have historically been extremely volatile, and predicting FX movements is recognised as a very difficult and risky strategy. Exchange rates move on several, often unpredictable, macro-economic factors, including differences in interest rates or inflation, geopolitics or due to government...
Read our full Market Update Week 22 Market Update Markets sold off and yields rose in the first half of the week on fears about repercussions of the Italian President rejecting the populist coalition’s choice of finance minister and attempting...
Whisper it very quietly, lest we jinx it: UK equities have been on a strong run recently. When was the last time you could say that? Certainly not since Brexit, which has been blamed for the poor performance versus global...
This week I was asked to write 180 words on whether President Trump was a ‘welcome disruptor or market menace’ and how his policies can be factored into investment decisions. Despite becoming tired of the circus surrounding the 45th President...
Read our full Market Update Week 19 Market Update Last week saw equity markets retreat in local terms, offsetting the previous week’s gains. Emerging markets sold off the most, falling -2.3% in local terms (-1.8% in GBP) weighed down by...
Read our full Market Update Week 17 Market Update Global equity markets were flat to positive in local terms last week, however a large sell-off in Sterling due to fading expectations for a rate hike at the next MPC meeting...
Read our full Market Update Week 16 Market Update Equity markets saw another week of recovery with positive returns across all regions. Returns for UK investors were boosted by a weak return from Sterling, which sold off 1.75% on a...
Read our Monthly Market Update After February ended a run of 11 consecutive months of positive, less volatile returns for equities, March saw risk assets continue to suffer as US bond yields peaked near 3% and fears of a global trade...
With the continued escalation of threats of tariffs between the US and China, markets suffered another week of negative returns. Global equities were down -1.0% in Sterling terms, dragged lower by US equities which returned -1.8%. Emerging Market and Japanese...
Donald Trump’s announcement of around $60bn of tariffs against China due to intellectual property violations saw markets experience large losses, as participants feared an escalating trade war. China is expected to hit back with levies aimed at industries and states...
Markets continued their recent rocky period, with two separate events causing unease for investors. The first was Jay Powell’s first congressional testimony on Tuesday where he hinted at a faster pace of interest rate rises and stated a preference for...
The market sell-off at the start of February was largely attributed to fears of rising interest rates in the US, with concerns that planned increases in fiscal stimulus to an already strong economy meant the Fed was getting behind the...
Over the last month global equity markets have sold off; since the 15th of January the MSCI AC World Index has fallen -4.12%, the S&P 500 -4.22% and the Japanese Nikkei -6.0%. The UK market similarly has tumbled with the...
Despite a brief panic on Wednesday when US inflation figures came in higher than expected, stoking fears of accelerated interest rate rises, markets had a strong week across the board following 2 weeks of significant market weakness. US markets were...
Last week saw a 3.5% pullback for global equity markets, the first since 2016. One reason is a deterioration in global economic data. The second factor is the Federal Reserve, who’s stronger language on inflation and growth, driven by the...
Equities suffered their worst week since 2016 and subsequently fell over 4% on Monday as concerns over rising US Government bond yields spilled over into risk assets. As of Monday, US 10Y Treasury yields were at 2.84%, having increased from...
By David Baker, Chief Investment Officer After a strong start of the year for equity markets, global stocks shed almost 5% of their value on Friday and Monday. US equities are now 6.2% below their highs, turning negative for the...
Last week marked a 3.5% pullback for global equity markets, the first since 2016. The move comes after a very good month, January, during which equities rose to fresh highs, gaining 5.2%, prompted by exuberance related to the US tax...
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