magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
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...
Valuable lessons to be drawn from the world’s oldest fund
Thursday 26 May 2022Sometimes it is important to get a bit of perspective, particularly when the outlook is as gloomy as it is now. Granted that’s difficult when the governor of the Bank of England is using words like ‘apocalyptic’ and we’re experiencing the most significant war in mainland Europe in most people’s...
Extreme fear and capitulation: looking for signs of a market bottom
Thursday 19 May 2022UK stocks continue to surpass all expectations by being one of the best performing regions for equities around the world. A near-2% loss for the FTSE 100 index is much better in relative terms than the 28% decline seen for the US Nasdaq or a 15% fall for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng year-to-date. Until...
Times are getting tougher so health check your investments now
Thursday 12 May 2022It’s always disappointing to see businesses struggle and sadly the numbers could get worse given the Bank of England’s warning about a big slowdown in the economy and 10% inflation. The troubles at McColl’s Retail ( MCLS ) have set the scene for difficult times ahead. The company has gone into...
Reasons why Amazon is not a great investment at the current price
Thursday 05 May 2022For years many investors have viewed Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) as an undefeatable business that can do no wrong. Wherever it moved in the retail space, success swiftly followed. The rapid ascension of its cloud computing arm helped to drive big profits and the share price kept going up and up. Having...
There could be more pain to endure from rising oil prices
Thursday 28 Apr 2022A higher oil price can be viewed as a tax on economic growth. For all the talk of a transition away from fossil fuels, oil is still key to powering the global economy and prices above $100 per barrel push up the costs for everyone, from the humble motorist at the pump to the largest global business...
It’s been a bad year for small caps but this dip is perfectly normal
Thursday 21 Apr 2022Having exposure to smaller companies is meant to bring some excitement to a diversified portfolio. Unfortunately, some investors’ hearts might be racing due to pain rather than pleasure this year. Historically this part of the market has outperformed larger companies. For example, between 1955 and...
All the bad news priced into housebuilders and retailers? Think again
Thursday 14 Apr 2022Stock markets are forward looking which means investors think mainly about a company’s prospects when they decide how much they are prepared to pay for its shares, or at what price they want to sell. Potential bad news tends to be priced into a company’s valuation before the event happens...
No short-term fix to the UK’s painful energy crisis
Thursday 07 Apr 2022Amid soaring energy prices and talk of fuel rationing, there is real pressure for the UK to come up with a sustainable plan for secure and affordable energy. While a published document from the Government may still be some weeks away, comments from ministers suggest there are likely to be three key...