Market Maker

In this episode, Piers and I take a look at the Deutsche Bank whose shares have fallen as much as 15% at the time of recording on Friday, dragging the entire European banking sector with it. In fact, the German bank has now lost more than a fifth of its value so far this month! So what's happened? Will they follow a similar fate to Credit Suisse? Or are they too big to fail? Free daily newsletter...

In this interview, I'm joined by Bethany Anstey, who is an EMEA Early Careers Recruiter at Bloomberg. In this conversation, Beth shares some invaluable tips for students applying for roles in finance as well as an insight into the culture at Bloomberg, one of the world's premier distributors of financial news and data. - Introduction - Common mistakes from applicants - What makes a candidate stand...

In this episode, we focus on the Swiss firm Credit Suisse after their shares fell over 30% on Wednesday this week.  In fact, the headline of the Daily Telegraph, a major news publication in the UK read, "Swiss bank crash stokes fears of a new global crisis as UK officials scramble to help prop up the bank as the meltdown overshadowed the budget" Sensational? Or is this really the start of som...

In this episode, we take a look at what exactly happened to SVB and why the collapse in their share price on Thursday rippled through the banking sector resulting in the largest four US banks losing some $47bn of market value in just one day. Was the move justified? Could one of the larger banks also fall victim to the same issue? We explain some key areas to watch in the coming days. We also revi...

In this episode, Piers and I unpack the headline 'Fears for the future of the London Stock Exchange' as SoftBank and the world’s largest building materials group CRH, shunned the City in favour of New York. We look at where London sits in the context of the global exchanges, what makes New York more attractive and what can the UK government do to stop what has been a gradual decline of the UK's in...

In this episode, Piers joins me from NYC as we discuss why Morgan Stanley thinks the largest bank in the US could more than double its size in the coming years. We explain how the structure at JPM differs from pure investment banks like Goldman Sachs and the implication this has on their share price and investability.  On the macro side, stocks have continued to grind lower as recent strong d...

Seven key Adani companies have lost at least a combined $110 billion in value after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation by the conglomerate. The Adani Group has rejected the criticism and denied any wrongdoing. In this episode, we explore who is Gautam Adani and Hindenburg Research, how activist short selling works and what h...

All the major tech firms have now reported and it's been quite the opposite of what you might expect. Meta (Facebook) came out trumps while Alphabet (Google) sank! We deconstruct the tech giant earnings and look at whether or not a bad season for most is a sign of things to come or just a temporary blip for these titans of industry. Attention then turns to the rally in stocks following the latest...

In this episode, we explain what you need to know from the first of the big tech companies to report their corporate earnings this season, Microsoft. We dive into the numbers and explain what they all mean and why investors are most interested in the performance of their cloud computing division.  Elsewhere, Citadel has leaped past Bridgewater Associates to be crowned the top hedge fund manag...

In this week's episode, we discuss the latest corporate earnings from some of the world's largest financial institutions. Ever wondered what the difference is between the likes of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and BlackRock? We break down the difference between investment banks and boutiques and explain how commercial banking and wealth management fits into the picture. Hopefully, it...

In this episode, Piers and I dissect this week's US CPI report and discuss what it means for the US central bank and the broader market.  The release saw some wild intraday moves and in this conversation we look at how the different types of market participants react to this type of information from high-frequency hedge funds to value investors. In single stock news, we take a look at the fig...

Welcome back to the channel and our first episode of 2023! This week we review how 2022 finished to set the scene for how this year may play out. Breaking down the major macro themes into how that will likely impact stock sector selection for the coming 12 months. Last year, not many people would have predicted that Russia would invade Ukraine, so we take a look at the potential 'Grey Swan' events...

Welcome to the final episode of the year! The week was dominated by central bank meetings where the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and the European Central Bank all raised interest rates by 0.5%, signaling that there is still more tightening to come. The policy decisions came despite a decline in both US and UK CPI readings, so what exactly is the reason for them to stay hawkish...

For this episode, I spoke with Ben Arnold an investment director in value and European equities at Schroders. Ben's got a really unique story. As a teenager, his number 1 dream wasn't to work in finance but rather to play hockey at the Olympic Games. Shortly after graduating from the University of Nottingham in 2012, he started working in the City part-time at RBS while he trained with the GB hock...

In this episode, I take a look at what Goldman Sachs has to do with crypto. Whether it's picking up extra-institutional volume or seeking recruitment opportunities, the demise of FTX has a silver lining for some of the largest investment banks on Wall Street. Then over to Credit Suisse, whose shares are actually outperforming the broader market today after the Swiss firm raised $4.3bn in a two-pro...

Piers returns to the podcast to talk with me about the latest rise in US stocks following hints from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that smaller rate hikes are coming. In fact, US stocks had their first streak of back-to-back monthly gains since 2021, with a gradual upward trend punctuated by a sharp rally on the last day of November. We also discuss our thoughts on the upcoming OPEC+ meetin...

Happy Thanksgiving to any of our US followers! I have some holiday-related stats to quiz you on to get the episode started this week. Then from a market perspective, I cover what information we learned from the latest FOMC minutes, why the UK is set to be one of the worst performers in the G20 over the next two years, and what caused volatility in the oil market this week. Free daily newslett...

In this episode, we use the latest Berkshire Hathaway 13F to understand some basic principles in managing a stock portfolio. Buffett's buy-and-hold strategy has served him well but the latest filing shows he's moved further into tech, purchasing a $4.1bn stake in the Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC. Is this a new direction for the 92-year-old Oracle from Omaha? Elsewhere, we review the lat...

In this episode, we attempt to unpack what exactly happened in the crypto market this week which was rocked by news about FTX and Binance, two of the world's largest crypto exchanges. The move came as FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was hailed as something of a savior earlier this year, was subject to an investigation centering on the possibility that the firm used customers’ depos...

In this career insight episode, I am joined by Bilal Hafeez who is the CEO, Head of Research and Editor of Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JP Morgan,Deutsche Bank and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research. To mark his 25th year in the industry, Bilal has written an article on the 25 lessons learned fr...

Piers returns to the show and gives his verdict on the big tech earnings and explains why despite their weak performance the S&P continues to hold up. We then delve into the monetary policy decisions this week from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, both of which raised interest rates by 0.75%. That move itself was not a big surprise but their forward guidance was. Find out why...

It's been a BIG week for US tech earnings and one that has seen seismic reactions in the likes of Meta and Amazon. So much so, that the net worth of Mark Zuckerberg has now fallen more than $100bn in just over 13 months. In this episode, I go beyond the headlines to see what really mattered in the earnings from Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. My objective is to give you a better...

First up on the agenda this week is the resignation of UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, marking the shortest premiership in British history. Find out what happens next, the implications for markets, and whether we are about to see the return of Boris! I'm also joined by Stephen Barnett, our Head of Schools, to unpack the announcement from Goldman Sachs this week who are planning a sweep...

A busy end to the week, as UK Prime Minister Liz Truss sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and announced another U-turn in her government's tax cut plan. Find out exactly what happened and how markets reacted to the latest news.  We also tie in the latest developments in the UK bond market after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told pension funds “You have three days to get out"....

In this career insight episode, I am joined by Tanya Tracey who is the CEO of Girls Are Investors (GAIN), which is a charity that seeks to address the lack of diversity in investment management through partnerships with schools and universities.  Tanya has over twenty years of experience in investment banking, investor relations, and diversity and inclusion, having worked at J.P. Morgan,...