Weekly Investment Update

In today’s episode, we explore the economic impact of the FIFA World Cup beyond the football itself. We examine who really benefits financially, why host cities often struggle to generate the returns they expect, and how even global financial markets can be influenced by the fortunes of national teams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Dominion Weekly Investment Update. This week, we explore why interest rate decisions remain one of the most important drivers of financial markets. From the recent technology sell-off to Alan Greenspan’s legacy and the first meeting led by the new Federal Reserve Chairman, we examine how monetary policy continues to shape the global economy and what it means for long-term investors....

This week, we explore how some of the most talked-about events in the world today — from the 2026 FIFA World Cup to SpaceX’s historic IPO and the latest decisions from the Federal Reserve — highlight a fundamental lesson for investors: the importance of separating noise from genuine signals. In a landscape shaped by headlines, volatility and conflicting opinions, we examine why experience, discipl...

The 23rd FIFA World Cup is under way, running from 11 June to 19 July 2026 across 16 cities spanning the United States, Mexico, and Canada. For the first time in the tournament's history, 48 teams compete for the prize, up from the 32-team format that had been in place since France 1998. Over one thousand players, dozens of nations, and one trophy. The parallel with fund management is deliberate,...

Writing this from somewhere between the Acropolis and the agora, with markets falling on the day, it feels apt to contemplate what the ancient Greeks might make of the current investment landscape. As Athens has stood for millennia, so too has human nature, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the behaviour unfolding around what could be the most consequential IPO wave in market history. Host...

It is a simple question, yet one that sits at the very heart of financial advice. When a client hands over their life savings, their retirement fund, or the proceeds of a business they have spent decades building, they are not simply transferring capital. They are extending trust. And that trust flows in two directions: from the client to the adviser, and from the adviser to the fund manager they...

The investment industry's most persistent debate continues to generate more heat than light. The argument is deceptively simple: most active fund managers fail to beat the index over time, so why pay higher fees when an S&P 500 tracker delivers the market return at a fraction of the cost? For many commentators, the case is closed. Buy the index, ignore the noise, done. If only sound investment...

History was made in Beijing last week. For the first time in nearly a decade, an American president set foot on Chinese soil for a state visit. President Trump's visit to China from the 13th to the 15th of May was his second state visit to the country and the first by any American president since his own trip in 2017. The world was watching, and with good reason. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

There is a question that serious investors return to repeatedly, and it has perhaps never felt more pressing: does politics actually matter to your portfolio, or is it simply the most expensive distraction ever invented? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This has been one of the most consequential weeks of the year so far in financial markets, and the conclusions are not as comfortable as equity index levels alone might suggest. Three major central banks sat on their hands, four of the world's largest technology companies reported stunning earnings, a royal visit delivered an unexpected trade gift, and yet the shadow of a partially closed waterway...

For decades, the financial services industry delivered a consistent message: start saving early, harness compound growth, stay invested through market cycles, and let time do the heavy lifting. Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers did precisely that. They saved, invested, and stayed the course through the dot-com crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic shock of 2020. The result is a remarkab...

The past six weeks have been among the most turbulent in recent memory. A US-Israeli military campaign against Iran pushed the region to the brink of wider war before a ceasefire brokered by Pakistan halted hostilities. The relief was short-lived. Israeli strikes in Lebanon strained the truce almost immediately, and when JD Vance announced that US-Iran talks had collapsed, Trump declared a naval b...

Last week, Blackrocks CEO and Chairman Larry Fink published his annual letter to investors, and the timing could not be more instructive. It arrives at a moment of high market uncertainty, as the Middle East conflict disrupts and rocks the business world. Yet rather than adding to the noise, Fink's letter does the opposite. While the timing coincides with volatile global financial markets, Fink at...

The US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its fourth week, is generating real economic turbulence. Global oil prices have surged more than 25 percent, roughly a fifth of global crude and natural gas supply has been suspended, and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has effectively stalled. Brent crude recently rose to $108.66 a barrel following an Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field. Ho...

Investors in the past two weeks could have benefitted from dusting off their old school literature exercise books and revisiting a poem by Nobel Prize winner Rudyard Kipling: "If". Written in 1910, four years before the First World War broke out, the poem deals with themes from patience and staying calm under pressure to rebuilding after loss. Its lessons feel remarkably, and perhaps uncomfortably...

On 28 February 2026, Israel and the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, nearly 900 strikes in the first twelve hours, targeting Iran's leadership, nuclear programme, missile sites and air defences. The assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei marked the most dramatic opening salvo. Now in its tenth day, the conflict has deepened significantly. Israel's attacks on Iran's energy infrastr...

During this week's State of the Union address, President Trump raised an issue that rarely gets prime-time attention: retirement security. Buried between applause lines was an acknowledgment that half of all working Americans lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. His proposed solution, a new savings account with a $1,000 annual federal match, signals something important: policymake...

The opening weeks of 2026 have delivered relentless volatility that threatens to overwhelm even seasoned observers. From gold's surge to cryptocurrency's collapse, from Iranian protests to Venezuelan regime change, the velocity of events demands discipline: separating genuine structural shifts from transient noise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The market's relationship with artificial intelligence has undergone a sharp reversal, morphing from enthusiastic embrace to anxious recalibration. Software stocks have suffered the largest non-recessionary 12-month drawdown in more than 30 years, with the sector losing $2 trillion of market capitalization from its peak, reducing its weight in the S&P 500 to 8.4% from 12%. LPL Financial closed...

Investment wisdom celebrates diversification as the cornerstone of prudent portfolio management. Yet investors increasingly face a paradox: portfolios appearing broadly diversified by company count yet dangerously concentrated by capital allocation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Albert Szent-Györgyi's observation about discovery applies perfectly to active investment management in 2026. While growth stocks have dominated markets for fifteen years, value investing has quietly delivered exceptional returns across multiple markets, yet few investors have paid attention. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The week's events delivered a masterclass in distinguishing between political spectacle and genuine market-moving developments. President Trump's threats to impose tariffs on eight European countries over Greenland sent the S&P 500 down 2.1% on Tuesday 20th January, wiping more than $1.2 trillion in value from the index. Yet within 24 hours, Trump announced a framework agreement with NATO rega...

On 3 January 2026, the United States launched a military strike on Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. The world woke from New Year celebrations to confrontation unthinkable by the standards that had governed international relations since 1945. Yet what made this extraordinary event more remarkable still was markets’ muted response. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

On 31st December 2025, one of the most significant transitions in financial history occurred with scant fanfare. After 55 years, Warren Buffett's final day as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway marked the end of an era that produced returns so extraordinary they defy conventional understanding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The final trading days of December arrive with predictable commentary about the "Santa Rally" and its implications for portfolios, accompanied by the statistic that the S&P 500 has gained an average of 1.3% since 1950 during Santa Rally periods, with positive returns occurring approximately 79% of the time, though this compelling figure describes merely a seven-day window in a market that trad...