magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
Be prepared for more market jolts as the recovery rally comes under pressure
Thursday 18 Jun 2020Markets have just experienced more than a week of declines (8-15 June) as investors worried about a second wave of coronavirus infections and deaths. While Donald Trump’s mooted $1trn infrastructure plan put a spark back into stocks on 16 June, the recent sell-off acted as a much-needed reality...
Volatility in the oil market looks set to continue
Thursday 11 Jun 2020This year has proved to be one of the most volatile times for the oil market in living memory. In January the oil price hit $70 per barrel as tensions simmered between the US and Iran. Having then slumped on the hit to demand delivered by global lockdown conditions, US oil prices in late April...
Did you invest in any of these winners during the crisis?
Thursday 04 Jun 2020Fund manager Peter Lynch once observed he wouldn’t invest in anything that he wasn’t able to illustrate with a crayon and a sheet of paper. What he really meant is that you shouldn’t put money into a business you don’t understand. We can all take this into our own investing by allocating cash to...
Discounted shares aren’t always a bargain
Thursday 28 May 2020The decision by FTSE 100 companies Compass ( CPG ) and Whitbread ( WTB ) to let the general public take part in their gigantic fundraisings is significant for retail investors. Hundreds of companies this year have issued new shares at a discount to the market price in order to boost their balance...
Terry Smith: family-controlled companies are good for dividends
Thursday 21 May 2020One of the biggest issues to affect households around the world this year is the reduction in income from dividend-paying investments. The effects will begin to be noticed in the coming months when many investors find they don’t get as much investment income as they used to, compounded by the fact...
The pandemic could have negative implications for the ‘E’ in ESG
Thursday 14 May 2020According to communist leader Vladimir Lenin ‘there are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen’. It feels at the moment like we are very much living through a period where the latter is true. In this fast-changing situation it can be hard for investors to stay on top...
Shell has opened the floodgates for dividend cuts
Thursday 07 May 2020Oil producer Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSB ) was meant to be the company that never disappoints when it comes to dividends. Sadly its decision to slash its payment by two thirds means other stocks effectively now have free rein to do the same. The drastic actions by companies to preserve cash have now...
How return to work plans influence share prices
Thursday 30 Apr 2020The forward-looking nature of the stock market means that investors are looking to future events which will act as markers for how they might feel about buying or selling shares. We saw this with data on coronavirus cases in China and signs that the growth in death rates had peaked. Even though...
Oil price slump could happen again in May
Thursday 23 Apr 2020While the International Monetary Fund is busily warning of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the S&P 500 is, as we write, back above its levels at the beginning of 2019. Against a backdrop of global stocks enjoying something of a recovery, the oil market is in a...
A simple guide to understanding market corrections
Thursday 16 Apr 2020A reader wants to know how market corrections work, why certain stocks fall more than others, who is selling and why some stocks bounce back first. Stock markets involve buyers and sellers making transactions based on expectations for what might happen to a business. The price will fall if more...