magazine archive
magazine archive
Russ Mould
What could the next general election mean for UK equities?
Thursday 08 Feb 2024Given the rate at which prime ministers (and chancellors of the exchequer) seem to come and go, investors may be inclined to avoid second-guessing the result of the next general election, even as the Conservatives’ Rishi Sunak drops hints of an autumn ballot, and the opposition Labour Party starts...
Discover the most and least popular stocks heading into 2024
Thursday 25 Jan 2024Every year this column tracks the ratings put on stocks across the FTSE 100 and FTSE 350 by the investment banks which provide research on the UK equity market. What catches the eye this year is that the analyst community is the most bullish (and least bearish) it has ever been since our first...
What investors should expect from the US in 2024
Thursday 11 Jan 2024The US stock market represents almost two-thirds of total world stock market capitalisation, so it seems fair to assume that where America goes the world will follow, at least to some degree. Keeping an eye on the US political scene, US Federal Reserve policy and the American economy may therefore...
Five big themes to watch in 2024
Thursday 21 Dec 2023No investor knows what is coming next, and whether inflation, stagflation or deflation will result from the combination of the interest rate pauses, quantitative tightening, pay increases, rising debt and elevated geopolitical tensions. Basing investment strategies on just one scenario is probably...
Five key lessons to take from 2023
Thursday 14 Dec 2023If 2021 was the year that inflation made an unwelcome reappearance and 2022 was when fears of recession stalked financial markets, then 2023 saw share prices (in developed markets, at least) start to discount a much rosier scenario, in the form of a peak in both inflation and interest rates, as...
Why the dollar’s decline matters
Thursday 30 Nov 2023After shedding all of this year’s gains during an autumn retreat, the US dollar, as benchmarked by the trade-weighted DXY basket, or ‘Dixie’ index, stands no higher now than it did in spring 2022. Investors must assess why the globe’s reserve currency is sliding, whether those trends will continue...
Which assets, sectors and stocks have done best in the three years since Pfizer Monday?
Thursday 16 Nov 2023On 9 November 2020, Pfizer (PFE:NYSE) and BioNTech (BNTX:NASDAQ) announced they had developed a vaccine for Covid-19 and share prices surged around the world, even if they had already bottomed in the spring after a short, sharp correction. The two companies may have won the gratitude of many people...
One year to go: do markets need to care about who is the next US president?
Thursday 02 Nov 2023It is a year to the 60th US presidential Election, on 5 November 2024, and although financial markets are more concerned right now about events in the Middle East, the oil price and inflation right now, they will soon start to take a keener interest in the race to the White House. Incumbent Joseph...
Discover the only chart which matters to investors right now
Thursday 19 Oct 2023This column has no desire to be seen as a broken clock, stuck and chiming at the same time each day, but it remains convinced that the only chart that matters right now in financial markets is the one that shows the yield on the US 10-year Treasury, or government bond. The US 10-year’s vertiginous...
Is the buyback boom a help or hindrance for stock markets?
Thursday 05 Oct 2023The FTSE 100 continues to paddle sideways and is barely any higher now than it was in spring 2017, some six-and-a-half years ago. Such a turgid capital return has at least been supplemented by dividends and also share buybacks, which have played an ever-greater part of shareholder returns in the...