True Potential Morning Markets

Matt Henderson, Portfolio Manager, looks back over the last few weeks in which we saw some market volatility and uses the opportunity to highlight the importance of longer term investment amidst short term change. Global equities returned 3.9% last week and a positive finish for global bonds made it a good week for multi-asset investors. As we look ahead to this week the FOMC (Federal Open Market...

With equities making a remarkable recovery this week and with market expectations for major central banks implementing several interest rate cuts by the end of the year, the economic backdrop looks constructive. Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation and Matt Henderson, Portfolio Manager look at data coming out of the UK and US where we see falling inflation rates for both economies with particula...

The pendulum has swung the other way in markets. Today, Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, looks at the recovery in global equity prices since last week and the optimism on corporate earnings ahead as all major equity regions are expected to deliver impressive profits growth over the next 12 months. We also get a look into the market expectations of interest rate cuts in the US given the path...

Matt Henderson, Portfolio Manager, looks at the UK inflation data which came through this morning. Markets did widely predict inflation to rise, however, the increase was below expectations in several readings which is a positive note for the UK's Bank of England. Matt walks us through the key elements of the readings and looks to the financial markets forecast for monetary policy from the Ban...

The latest data on the UK labour market shows improvements, with the unemployment falling, reversing its year-to-date trend. Wage growth remains elevated but the data this morning suggests a cooling. But what does this mean for the path of future interest rate? Paul Durrans, Investment Director, looks into the key trends within the data and whether this will play a role in any interest rate decisi...

This morning our Chief Investment Officer, Jeff Casson previews the week ahead in the markets, and what that means for your investments. As reporting season is well underway, Jeff looks to UK employment and inflation, inflation data from the USA and how they may influence monetary policy.

This week our experts review recent market fluctuations. Weakness in the US labour market began a fall in global equity markets due to fears that the US economy was slowing. We have also seen the Ministry of Finance in Japan intervene to strengthen the Japanese Yen, and a further increase in Japanese interest rates. Altogether, this caused investors to position away from Japanese equities. The Jap...

George Bell, Portfolio Manager, looks at what was a more encouraging day for equity markets outside of the US yesterday. Comments from the Bank of Japan’s Deputy Governor Uchinda noted that they will not raise rates further during current market instability which was welcomed as positive news for markets. In the US, attempts from the Treasury to raise capital through the issuance of bonds was met...

After market volatility at the start of the week, all main equity markets finished positive in what is being named “Turnaround Tuesday”. Chris Leyland, Director of Investment Strategy, looks at Nvidia and Meta which have rebounded up 4% each and cover about some of the weakness seen in Sovereign Bonds and Gold as investors rotate towards equities and demonstrate a willingness to add risk to their...

Over the last week there has been a spike in volatility across equity markets, with notable movements in Japan, Small-Cap and Technology. Paul Durrans, Investment Director, looks at the causes behind this volatility, the complex interplay of key events that have impacted markets and provides some perspective as to the upsides in US markets as well as the opportunities that often emerge during thes...

Following a volatile reaction in equity markets last week, attention will be focused on US survey data this week. Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation looks to the imminent US ISM services data and its importance as markets worry that the US economy is slowing. Will the Federal Reserve step in with an emergency rate cut following the figures this week? Towards the end of the week we get inflatio...

The Bank of England have cut interest rates from 5.25% to 5%, but how does this affect your money and how did markets respond? Faye Graham, Investment Analyst and Paul Durrans, Investment Director, go over the key takeaways from the decision and what the outlook is for further additional interest rate cuts. In contrast the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in an effort to lower inflation. In the...

Today, Matt Henderson, Portfolio Manager, reviews the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates at 5.25% to 5.5%.We review both inflation and employment in relation to the decision as they are both parts of the Fed's dual mandate. Although the rate remained unchanged, the markets are equally interested in the comments that follow policy decisions as Chair Jerome Powell highlighted that...

Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, looks to the monetary policy meetings taking place this week with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England and the expectations on interest rate cuts. While no cuts are expected as of yet, there will be a keen eye on communications as to the direction of policy for both central banks with the European Central Bank and Bank of Canada having already begun t...

Paul Durrans, Investment Director, looks at the latest corporate results and respective management comments to gauge the strength of consumer demand. Last week's US GDP report for Q2 2024 suggest consumer spending remains strong. However, investors are beginning to question whether higher interest rates are beginning to bite. Paul focuses on the latest results from McDonalds and the key trends...

As we look to the week ahead, 3 out of the 4 major central banks will make decisions on interest rates, Matt Henderson, Portfolio Manager, looks at the economic factors and market expectations on their decisions. We will also see company earnings reports from big tech with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon and a focus on consumer health from Mastercard, Paypal and McDonalds. 

Chris Leyland, Director of Investment Strategy, and Joe Forward, Investment Analyst, look back at a week of corporate earnings where Tesla saw a 12% drop in share price after CEO Elon Musk announced a delay to their self driving taxi service. Alphabet, the parent company of Google increased their revenue stream by 14% which was driven by advertising revenue and demand for their cloud computing ser...

Chris Leyland, Director of Investment Strategy, looks East to China, where an unexpected interest rate cut has been announced in a bid to stimulate the economy on the backdrop of high youth unemployment, problems with the property sector and a lack of foreign investment post Covid. The fact that China cut rates ahead of the Federal Reserve in the US illustrates an acknowledgment of challenges in t...

With corporate earnings now in full swing, Paul Durrans, Investment Director, looks at some big names reporting within Technology, Consumer Discretionary and Industrial sectors. Tesla and Google were the first of the seven giant US tech companies to announce second quarter earnings results. Tesla disappointed investors as profits dropped 45% as it faced higher costs from employee lay-offs, slower...

Today our focus is China with Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, looking at the People’s Bank of China and their decision to lower interest rates to encourage further borrowing from the private sector. China remains in a post property crash bust with an equivalent one trillion dollars worth of unsold properties, which will cause prolonged consequences for growth in an economy which is aging r...

George Bell, Portfolio manager reflects on the challenges presented by a global IT outage impacting a range of sectors, and key political developments as President Biden withdraws from the 2024 campaign rally. As we look to the week ahead, we are expecting to see some strong numbers in respect of US economic growth and corporate earnings, along with an update on US inflation and European business...

In our round up of the week, Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, and George Bell, Investment Director cover the cooling UK jobs market and how it reflects on the global cycle. How the UK is lagging behind the global disinflation cycle but still making modest progress, as well as an unexpected technology headline which has affected equity markets.

Today, Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, looks at the weak performance of global equities which followed comments from the Biden administration on exploring further restrictions to western microchip manufacturers and their ability to export to China. Closer to home and the UK employment data continues to paint a rather mixed picture, importantly, wage growth remains extremely sticky, at +5.7...

Today, Chris Leyland, Director of Investment Strategy, looks at the new UK inflation data and what it may say about the potential direction of interest rate policy. Services inflation remaining sticky at 5.7% could be a sign for concern with the largest upward contributions coming from the cost of restaurants and hotels. The Bank of England will be watching this figure with a keen eye as it looks...

Corporate earnings season is in full swing with the US and Europe reporting. Both BlackRock and Goldman Sachs have beat market expectations on earnings. Goldman Sachs saw total earnings rising 150% while BlackRock reported an 8% rise in revenue. We’ve also had comments from Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell, on the Fed’s dual mandate to foster stable inflation and maximum employment. Market...