magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
JD Sports’ Footasylum own goal shows why governance really matters
Thursday 04 Aug 2022It’s easy to dismiss ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing as a fad. Certainly there has been a backlash in 2022 after a period where slapping those three letters next to any investment seemed to guarantee double-digit gains According to data from Morningstar, US funds with a...
It could be good news fund managers are sitting on most cash in 20 years
Thursday 28 Jul 2022If the darkest hour is just before the dawn then brighter skies cannot be too far away. When you consider the events of the last two decades, let alone the last six months, it’s no surprise investors are feeling pretty gloomy. A dot-com crash, a Great Financial Crisis, a pandemic and the largest...
Why focusing on the long term can help when so much is going on
Thursday 21 Jul 2022We live in an information age. Our minds are constantly bombarded by such a deluge of facts and figures that it’s increasingly hard to keep track. An important skill for successful investing is to narrow your focus to only the most salient data and news flow. This can help you to make informed...
Falling commodity prices could mean the worst of rising inflation is nearly over
Thursday 14 Jul 2022The excitement seems to be coming out of the commodities space judging by share prices in miners and oil and gas companies. This suggests inflation could soon ease and/or investors are taking profits in stocks that have done well this year. Both factors imply a potential rotation into other parts...
GSK and Haleon: why the spin-off can be the more interesting part of a demerger
Thursday 07 Jul 2022One of the UK market’s biggest corporate splits in years is about to happen, with GSK ( GSK ) demerging its consumer healthcare business called Haleon. The latter should become a FTSE 100 company and give investors exposure to some of the best-known brands in toothpaste, painkillers and more. This...
Choices, choices. The pool of shares on lower valuations is getting bigger by the day
Thursday 30 Jun 2022It may not feel like the right environment to go shopping for stocks given market sentiment remains poor. Yet anyone prepared to look beyond the near term might find some great companies at more attractive prices than at any other point in the past two years. This year has seen investors flock to...
What OPEC can do about energy prices and why it might do nothing
Thursday 23 Jun 2022When the latest eye-watering energy bill comes through the post, or you hand over £100 to fill your car with petrol, your mind may not immediately turn to a nondescript building in Vienna, just a short stroll from the Sigmund Freud Museum. However, it is in this low-key location which OPEC or the...
The FTSE 100 was 2022’s star performer. So why has it ground to a halt?
Thursday 16 Jun 2022So much for the bear market rally. The FTSE 100 ground to a halt in the latter part of May and fell over in early June, meaning it is now sitting on a 3.7% loss year-to-date. While still better than many other parts of the world, it’s frustrating that the index stubbornly refuses to break out and...
Good economic news still struggles to drive up markets
Thursday 09 Jun 2022On 3 June when many British investors would have been taking a break to toast the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee the US reported a strong set of employment numbers. American firms added more jobs than expected in May at 390,000 compared with the anticipated 325,000 but this wasn’t a cause for celebration...
Many active managers have failed to justify their worth with UK income stocks
Wednesday 01 Jun 2022Fund managers in general have not shone this year when it comes to the UK equity income sector, if you judge their performance using a certain benchmark. I’ve looked at data from FE Fundinfo and found the top performer in the UK equity income space for funds was a tracker product, not one where a...