Watching and waiting A noticeable winter chill is in the air. The threat of fresh lockdown measures has become reality, with renewed restrictions coming into force not just in the UK, but across most of continental Europe as well. But unfortunately, the UK – once...

Baffling market optimism Following the unsteadiness of September, markets have further regained their composure and continue to drift upwards. This stands in stark contrast to the flow of bad news. The White House, centre of power for the mighty US, has become a COVID...

The Cambridge Weekly Update A recovery on hold September continues to bite equity markets. Stocks everywhere wobbled again last week and even though they bounced back, the S&P500 is down around 8% in US Dollar terms for the month. UK investors might notice less of...

Taking a step back to look forward Stock markets have stabilised and started trading sideways, in a sign of healthy consolidation following their extraordinary recovery rally since late March. Notably, the darlings of the recovery, namely US large cap tech and growth...

Market dynamic of a K-shaped recovery Markets’ summer holidays are over. Throughout August, risk assets made some impressive gains, while the global economy remained in its deepest ever recession. After equities were then catapulted to eye-watering valuation levels,...

Big tech gets bigger while the Fed takes the easy option In a week where Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in earnest, global investors showed it is indeed “America first”. US equities continue to push at all-time highs, having recovered everything lost...

Fed leaves bond investors with that sinking feeling Capital markets were mostly steady – if a bit on edge – last week, as they have been for most of August. At least the US maintained positivity, although the extent of gains were not spectacular. Even so, both the...

COVID II the sequel – as scary as the original? The pleasures, and then increasing discomfort, of the UK’s unusually broiling August weather offered a welcome distraction from the seemingly never ending COVID news flow of gloominess. As the heatwave came to an end...

Living with COVID- settling into an interim ‘new normal’ Compared to the rest of 2020, July proved almost uneventful as global capital markets consolidated strong gains made during the previous quarter, with only emerging market equities and gold delivering notable...

PPE = Politics, Pressure and Economics In this delicate economic and financial environment, the world of politics can have a big impact on capital markets. Last week, we saw both heads of that political beast, with news stories first buoying and then bruising market...

Fast and freewheeling – markets move as economies slow As they have for most of the year, pandemic developments dominated the economic news flow last week. Though restrictions continue to ease here and in Europe, the virus is now spreading at a quickening pace in the...

H1 2020 offers meaningful lessons So we begin the second half of 2020, leaving behind us two of the most extraordinary calendar quarters in history. But the difference in experience from an investment perspective versus the general public and most of the economy could...

Support balances increasing strains – for how long? The consolidation in stock markets continues. After a brief sell-off at the beginning of last week, capital markets staged a recovery to leave things almost unchanged from a week ago. All in all, markets are now just...

A new normal After a wobble, capital markets have stabilised again. Global stock markets have not quite regained their previous highs, but seem to have found a level, trading sideways since last Tuesday. For onlookers though, risk asset prices probably look anything...