Market Maker

In this episode, we discuss what happened to Credit Suisse this week as shares dropped and Credit Default Swaps (CDS) soared amid rumours the Swiss banking giant could be the next Lehman Brothers. But why did the market react so violently and is there any substance to this speculation? Next is Elon Musk, who has thrown in the towel and has revived his commitment to buy Twitter at the original pric...

Topics discussed in this episode Unprecedented Emergency Action: The Bank of England to purchase £80bn long-dated UK Government Bonds to save the Pension industry – But why did they do this, and will it work? UK Government bond yields spike above 5% in one of the largest market moves in history as traders panic over the sustainability of UK debt – Are these fears rational and where do yields go fr...

This week, we discuss why the Great British Pound continues to get hammered. From the split amongst policymakers at the Bank of England to the government setting out the most radical package of tax cuts since 1972. Has the probability of parity against the US dollar become more likely? We also review the latest interest rate announcement from the US central bank and explain why the news...

The UK chancellor is reportedly planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses in a move to attract more talent to the City of London. Find out why the government is doing this and how investment banks manage bonus season. We review this week's US CPI report which acted as a trigger for the Dow to close down more than 1,200 points, marking the worst day so far this year. Why was th...

The founder of the outdoor clothing company, Patagonia, has given away 100% ownership of the $3bn company to help fight climate change.  Yvon Chouinard, the mountain climber, and unlikely business leader has always placed the planet as the company’s most important stakeholder, committing to give 1% of sales to fight climate change, and embarking on an extensive worn-wear campaign.  Today...

Earlier this week, TV personality and business women Kim Kardashian launched her own private equity firm SKKY Partners with the help of Jay Sammons, a former employee at investment firm The Carlyle Group. Piers and I use this deal to help explain the role that private equity plays in finance, how the industry works and the difference between P.E and venture capital. On the macro front, w...

The UK economy is facing one of its toughest economic periods in history.  A looming threat of a recession, acute dependence on foreign capital, soaring debt costs, and the rising likelihood that the Bank of England’s independence will be scrutinised under the new Tory leadership have all led to the demise of the Great British Pound. But how low will the currency go and is there a possibility...

In this breaking news episode, I summaries the main take home points from the highly anticipated speech from the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium.  Find out what were the three main comments, how the market reacted and what does this mean for the September FOMC meeting. Daily newsletter  https://amplifyme.com/market-maker Free Finance Accelerator simulat...

In this episode, we focus on the increasing economic challenges being felt in China, who earlier this week surprised the market and cut interest rates for the first time since the beginning of the year. We look at why things are so bad and what might happen next. Next, we turn our attention to the return of the meme stock craze with reports suggesting that short sellers have lost an esti...

In this episode, I go toe to toe with Head of Trading Piers Curran as we put forward our bull and bear case scenarios for the direction of US stocks We also run through some of the major headlines in global markets this week: - What does the drop in US CPI mean for the Fed? - The impact of US gasoline prices dropping back below $4 - How impactful is the US Inflation Reduction Act? - What next for...

In this episode, I fly solo recapping some of the major stories in markets this week. I take a look at why the Pound fell after the Bank of England delivered its largest rate rise since 1995, what the world's largest asset manager has to do with the crypto exchange Coinbase, and the implications of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taipei this week. Daily newsletter  https://am...

A slight change up in this week's episode, as I'm joined by Milandeep Bassi, who is the Fintech products lead and full stack DevOps engineer at Amplify. You might be wondering what the hell is that?! So in this episode, we talk about the following: What do you learn in computer science The type of characteristics that make a successful programmer Creating and testing trading algos The different ro...

An incredibly busy week, from Russia resuming critical gas flows to Europe, to one of the biggest ever tech IPO's on the London market being put on hold due to the collapse of the Boris Johnson government, there's never a dull moment in markets! In this episode, we start with deconstructing what exactly happened at the European Central Bank meeting, where interest rates were hiked 50bps, mark...

It's been quite an incredible week in global markets. The Euro hit parity against the US Dollar for the first time in 20 years, the Italian government is about to implode, the Tory leadership contest rumbles on, and the big US banks kick off the latest earnings season. However, the show stopper was undoubtedly the latest US CPI reading which came in at a red hot 9.1%, the largest gain since the en...

In this episode, I talk to the Head of Trading Piers Curran about the resignation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We look at the process behind how the Conservative Party will now elect a new leader, the subsequent timeline, and importantly whether this shift has implications for financial markets. Who is Ben Wallace? Will Rishi win? does this even matter in the context of the economic crisis...

MM071: US stocks suffer sharpest first-half drop for more than 50 years Yesterday saw H1 2022 draw to a conclusion with the S&P 500 closing down 20.6% year-to-date making the worst first six months of any year since 1970.We discuss why stocks have had such a bad year and delve deeper into the diverging performances of the different equity sectors. For example, exploring why the energy sector i...

Yesterday the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 0.75% in another hawkish pivot in their on-going quest to tame inflation. They also said they intend to raise interest rates a further 1.75% across their remaining four meetings in 2022 We discuss the market fallout in the aftermath of this Fed announcement as stock markets initially bounced as Powell said he did not expect adjustments of 0....

We've had Apple's Developer event this week and while people are most obsessed with augmented reality technology we focus on the less sexy software side of the business! Namely, Apple CarPlay and Apple's move into finance by offering loans directly to consumers for its new buy now, pay later product. Will Apple's refresh of CarPlay open up a new substantial revenue stream for the tech giant or is...

This week Bank of America put out a note suggesting that investors should hedge for an “existential” sterling crisis as the British currency faces struggles usually seen in emerging markets. What supports this pessimistic view and is it a credible argument or simply a sensational conclusion to generate broad appeal in the media? We then shift our focus to crude oil where prices have briefly touche...

In this episode, Piers and I take a look at comments from Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan, where the CEO's of J.P. Morgan and Bank of America softened their tone on a recession and how it may be different from episodes experienced in the past. We also discuss how the UK Chancellor is engineering his windfall tax on oil and gas companies, the change in tactics from the Chinese governm...

The Dow dropped 1,100 points on Wednesday, marking its biggest decline since 2020 as the sell-off this year on Wall Street intensifies. Is this the beginning of the end or are we just getting started? In this episode, Piers and I look at some troubling signs from US retailers Target and Walmart this week and what their performance tells us about the macro environment. Meanwhile, one of the bi...

The price of bitcoin briefly fell below $26,000 this week, hitting its lowest level in 16 months. The move came after a collapse in Luna as TerraUSD struggled to regain its Dollar peg. Find out what purpose these 'algorithmic stablecoins' serve, what caused them to break down, and what it means for institutional adoption going forward. We also catch up on what has been another brutal week across t...

On Thursday, the Nasdaq closed the session down 5%, marking the biggest single-day plunge since June 2020. YTD stocks like Netflix are now down nearly 70% and even tech giant Amazon has shed over 30% in the past four months. So why has the selling pressure intensified this week? What should we take away from the comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the FOMC meeting and is a recession now all b...

Much to talk about this week, but Piers and I thought we would unpack what has been a busy week in US corporate earnings.  In fact, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet alone have a combined market value of about $8trl and makeup one-fifth of the weight of the S&P 500. So how they perform has a direct consequence on the US stock market and gives investors some clues on how the...

In this episode, I speak to Will Hobbs who is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Barclays Wealth Management. Will talks about his untraditional route into markets, from training in Italy as a chef to landing his first role in finance, working through the dot-com and financial crisis, and then deconstructing his current role as Chief Investment Officer. There are lots of tips on networking, leve...