magazine archive
magazine archive
Russ Mould
Where next for US shares?
Thursday 07 May 2020Hard to believe as it may be, America’s S&P 500 index is down by just 3% over the last 12 months, while the NASDAQ Composite is up by 7%. This seems remarkable, give the COVID-19 outbreak and the economic fallout of the lockdown that is being used to fight it. Surely things cannot be just 3%...
What does coronavirus mean for markets long-term?
Thursday 30 Apr 2020In last week’s edition this column looked at the potential near-term implications for financial markets of the coronavirus outbreak. At the time of writing, markets are still trying to rally and are being encouraged to do so by the combination of ongoing monetary and fiscal support from central...
Why markets have rebounded and what could happen next
Thursday 23 Apr 2020At the time of writing, Italy’s MIB-30 index is up by 15% from its 12 March low, a trend from which this column, looking at it solely from the narrow perspective of investments, can draw some modicum of encouragement. It is impossible to be dispassionate about, or comfortable with, such matters,...
Why the dollar is in demand
Thursday 16 Apr 2020Whatever your opinion of Donald Trump, you always know what the US president is thinking and he could not be clearer on the dollar: he does not like a strong greenback. This is odd, because a strong currency is usually a sign of economic strength in absolute or at least relative to international...
Insurers start to follow banks with dividend cuts
Thursday 09 Apr 2020At the time of writing more than a quarter of the FTSE 100 index has elected to defer, cancel or cut their final dividends for 2019 or interim dividends for their next fiscal year. Perhaps the biggest blow to income seekers has come from the banking sector, where the Prudential Regulatory Authority...
Five ways to spot a market bottom
Thursday 02 Apr 2020Late March’s sharp three-day rally is inevitably begging the question as to whether markets are nearing or are even past the bottom after the savage sell-off that dates back to 24 February. This column still has its doubts, not least because history suggests market downturns are usually littered...
Will gold shine again (just like it did after 2008?)
Thursday 26 Mar 2020One of the most confusing features of the current market rout has been gold’s failure to confirm its status as a haven asset during times of trouble. At the time of writing the precious metal is up by barely 1% since the start of the year and is down by 8% from the year high reached on 24 February...
How long does it take to bounce back from a bear market?
Thursday 19 Mar 2020This column recently looked at the history of bear markets in the field of UK equities. That analysis has proved to be rather timelier than anticipated, since the FTSE All-Share has just entered the eleventh such downturn in its 58-year history and the FTSE 100 its fifth bear phase since launch in...
The fear index reading could be good news
Thursday 12 Mar 2020When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, America was battling the effects of the Great Depression and the country’s 32nd president attempted to rally Americans round by declaring that ‘the only thing to fear is fear itself’. In the narrow context of financial markets this column does...
Are stocks heading for a bear market?
Thursday 05 Mar 2020The period of 24 to 28 February saw the FTSE 100 suffer its steepest weekly fall since October 2008, just after Lehman Brothers went down, the global financial system was on its knees and a global bear market was in full swing. The trigger for such a plunge has been the longer-than-expected...