Both buybacks and M&A should help realise value in UK shares, boosting prices and giving investors another reason to consider the UK stockmarket Not only does M&A activity appear to be picking up, with a high-profile bid for UK electronics retailer Currys, but the scale of company buybacks continues to accelerate. If it goes well,…
Sometimes the market is not just inefficient, it throws up opportunities that defy logic – and today, argues Jack Holmes, is such an occasion
Emerging market growth is becoming increasingly dependent on fundamentals Emerging markets have never been homogenous, but in 2023 their fortunes diverged more than ever before. On the one hand was China, where stockmarkets slumped for a third consecutive year. On the other was India, Latin America and Taiwan, where punchy economic growth was reflected in…
Are there longer-term risks to the seemingly benign inflation picture? If 2024 is to be the ‘year of the bond’, inflation has to fall. The assumptions around inflation have had a wobble since the start of the year, as the US CPI reading for December came in ahead of expectations, and economic growth continues to…
Healthcare is a sector with a lot going on, writes Cherry Reynard, and some of its potential appears unappreciated by investors If AI was the dominant theme in 2023, healthcare might snap at its heels in 2024. Healthcare has often been characterised as dull and defensive, but breakthroughs on obesity drugs, on Alzheimer’s treatment and…
The European Central Bank opted to keep interest rates unchanged in an expected decision on Thursday. The rates will remain at 4.5% for main refinancing operations, 4.75% for the marginal lending facility and 4% for the deposit facility, where they have sat since September. In the monetary policy statement, the European Central Bank reiterated its…
It is tough to pick the resulting market outcome from any election, writes Cherry Reynard 2024’s calendar of elections kicked off with the Taiwanese election, which immediately careered into controversy. Yet markets appear to be untroubled by any potential escalation in geopolitical tensions it may bring about. Is this a sign of things to come,…
Democrats and Republicans may have reached agreement on a spending deal but ‘unsustainable’ levels of debt continue to be a cause for concern With another funding deadline looming, the Democrats and Republicans have reached a $1.66trn deal on US spending. This averts another potentially disruptive shut-down. Nevertheless, the level of US government debt remains a…
For some time, it has been clear the baton of economic growth would pass from China, but it was not always clear who would carry it forward While interest rates and inflation have been the driving forces for markets in 2023, in the longer term, the shift in the geopolitical landscape may prove more significant.…
Despite the positive mood music from the organisers of this year’s climate change conference, Michael Nelson finds many commentators more cautious about heralding victory COP28 has concluded in Dubai with a new deal calling on all countries to “transition away” from using fossil fuels – the first time any such deal on fossil fuels has…
There are solid arguments supporting a harder landing scenario than markets are currently anticipating In the most recent investor survey from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 75% of those polled see a soft landing or no landing as the most plausible outcome for the US economy. This is a 10% increase on the previous month…
Bond markets are preparing for ‘higher for longer’ interest rates despite falling inflation, writes Cherry Reynard The bond markets have been experiencing a turbulent patch. A range of factors have collided to create this disruption, including an adjustment to the ‘higher for longer’ narrative from central banks, a deluge of supply and the tentative withdrawal of…
