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Labour, supply shortages and rising prices could crimp Christmas sales
Thursday 09 Sep 2021Shares warned of supply chain challenges in the food industry as far back as May last year, yet it took announcements from fast-food chains KFC and Nando’s and supermarket giant Tesco ( TSCO ) for the penny to finally drop. Broader supply chain issues pose a threat to company earnings and therefore...
Why gloomy US jobs data didn’t derail the market
Thursday 09 Sep 2021The US equity markets have remained resilient in the face of poor US non-farm payroll growth in August. The consensus estimate was for an increase of 735,000, however the reported figure was just 235,000. Two factors explain the market’s apparent irrational exuberance to what appears at first...
Investors in German stocks and funds need to prepare for big changes
Thursday 09 Sep 2021It looks like being an unusually busy few weeks for investors in German equities. First, chancellor Angela Merkel is stepping down after 16 years in office, with elections due on 26 September, and second, the DAX index is being revamped for the first time in several decades. To say that Merkel will...
Japanese stocks gain after prime minister’s resignation
Thursday 09 Sep 2021Seemingly counter-intuitively, Japanese stocks surged higher after prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced on 3 September his intention to step down with the Nikkei 225 index gaining 2% and the broader Topix index making new all-time highs. There are two reasons why investors took the news...
BA-owner’s short-haul plans could spark fresh budget airline fares battle
Thursday 02 Sep 2021The owner of British Airways is considering setting up a low-cost short-haul operation that would go into direct competition with Ryanair ( RYA ) and EasyJet ( EZJ ) and could trigger a ticket price war. Airline conglomerate International Consolidated Airlines ( IAG ) , which owns British Airways,...
Reasons why stock markets moved higher on latest Fed news
Thursday 02 Sep 2021There was no question who was centre of attention at the Jackson Hole summit of central bankers, held virtually rather than in its usual Wyoming location on 27 August. All eyes were on US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and whether he would give the market any clues on the future direction of...
What investors should do after Prudential’s Jackson Life split
Thursday 02 Sep 2021Insurance giant Prudential ( PRU ) is poised for a major change as it plots the imminent demerger of its US Jackson Life business. In October 2019 Prudential spun off its fund management arm M&G ( MNG ) , crystallising a £5.6 billion valuation with investors receiving shares in both companies...
Bitcoin tops $50,000 as crypto recovery speeds up on PayPal expansion
Thursday 26 Aug 2021Bitcoin surged beyond $50,000 for the first time since May as crypto prices continued to recover from the massive sell-off three months ago. In morning trading on 23 August, the largest virtual currency had advanced nearly 2% $50,253.50, having started August below $41,700. Bitcoin topped $65,000...
Terry Smith finally dips his toe in Amazon
Thursday 26 Aug 2021Having told investors and reporters again at this year’s Fundsmith Equity (B41YBW7) annual general meeting that he was not a fan of Amazon.com, it seems Terry Smith has had a change of heart. According to regulatory filings, the Fundsmith Long/Short hedge fund – which was set up last summer to...
Could the Delta variant risk de-railing the global recovery?
Thursday 26 Aug 2021The last few weeks have seen a number of disappointing ‘soft’ data points in the US and the UK which seem to indicate that the continuing risk associated with the Delta variant is starting to impact consumer decision-making. By ‘soft’ data we mean consumer confidence indicators, spending intentions...