Labour isn’t working
The strapline from the famous Conservative Party poster ran in advance of the 1979 election, showed a queue snaking outside an unemployment office. The election followed the Winter of Discontent, characterised by widespread strikes, unions demanding double-digit pay rises and rubbish stockpiled in Leicester Square. Does all this, apart from the rubbish stockpiles, sound ominous? […]
Market Outlook
Hope springs eternal… Last year was an incredibly challenging year and brought folly to most market newsletters within just a few short weeks and so it is with slightly more nervous trepidation than usual, that I set out our thoughts for the year ahead. 2022 threw everything at us; a slowdown in economic growth, a […]
Japan
Japan flies against global trends and in many cases, this represents an attractive attribute. Whereas high inflation, aggressive central bank policies and fears of recession loom in many parts of the world, Japan pushes back against this with low inflation, supportive central banks, a fiscally supportive government coupled with corporate reforms, cheap equity valuations and […]
Market Returns – a whistle-stop tour of some of the movers and shakers during the quarter.
The chart shows the returns in local currency across a cross sample of major indices. The table below shows Investment Association sector average returns broken down by asset class and geography, this time in sterling. The US dollar was strong in 2022 vs. sterling, yen and euro but there was a step change in Q4 […]