magazine archive
magazine archive
Feature
Nobody wants oil: how the commodity has gone from boom to bust
Thursday 30 Apr 2020WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN THE OIL MARKET? It’s very strange times for the oil market and there could be further trouble ahead. Unless demand picks up dramatically in the coming weeks then mid to late May could see a repeat of the recent scenario where people had to pay others to take oil off their hands...
Spotting how companies might move the goal posts during the crisis
Thursday 23 Apr 2020Accounting scandals have a tendency to crop-up late into a business cycle, perhaps aided and abetted by looser governance standards and a lack of attention to detail by investors who get lulled into a sense of false security after years of stock market gains. With a long bull market at an end amid...
Don’t turn your back on small caps as markets fall
Thursday 16 Apr 2020As the UK continues to step lightly through the coronavirus pandemic’s social distancing minefield, many investors have turned their back on the small cap space. This is a mistake. We can understand why small caps might not appeal to everyone at the moment, given this space can include unproven...
Healthcare heroes: invest in the companies trying to save the world from coronavirus
Thursday 16 Apr 2020Three of the best performing shares over the last three months are healthcare companies. All of them are at the leading edge, developing testing kits, therapies and vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Realistically, developing a vaccine will likely take at least 12 months, and so the...
Finding income in a sea of dividend cuts
Thursday 09 Apr 2020This year has seen 233 London-listed companies either cancel, cut or suspend their dividends, principally because of the coronavirus crisis. This is terrible news for anyone who relies on their investments for income. In many instances, even previously-declared dividends are not going to be paid, a...
Experts are feeling more optimistic about Chinese stocks and funds
Thursday 09 Apr 2020As the city of Wuhan ends its 11-week quarantine, it seems that life in China is more or less getting back to ‘normal’. Although a handful of new virus cases are being reported, the draconian measures the government took to limit the virus mean the country is recovering just as the rest of the...
How are companies coping with the strain on their finances?
Thursday 02 Apr 2020One of the most striking features of the current crisis, from a stock market perspective, is how sharply and suddenly UK firms have cut their dividends in response to the drop in demand for their goods or services. In March alone, UK companies cancelled or postponed more than £4bn in forecast...
How have technology funds performed this year?
Thursday 02 Apr 2020Most investors tend to view the technology space as high growth AND high risk, yet performance data of tech funds shows an underappreciated resilience during the coronavirus sell-off. That fund values have fallen in absolute terms is understandable given the widespread sell-off in global stock...
Investors’ pain relief: your guide to getting through this tricky period
Thursday 02 Apr 2020All market corrections are different and have different causes, and the one currently being experienced has been notable for both its scale and speed, and for the fact it is being driven by a health emergency rather than a financial one. The simple fact is many investors will have been caught off...
The companies standing amid coronavirus headwinds
Thursday 26 Mar 2020Few firms will be left unscathed from the knock-on economic effects of global actions to contain coronavirus, with recession almost assured over the next few months. The burden will certainly be felt most in the consumer facing sectors of the economy, but not all businesses will be affected to the...