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Trading platforms see surge in demand amid market volatility
Thursday 09 Apr 2020Market volatility is rarely good news for investors but it has been a significant positive for trading platforms as the latest updates from Plus500 ( PLUS ) and CMC Markets ( CMCX ) demonstrate. Big swings in markets create more opportunities to make short-term profit even if this comes with...
Market’s attention turns to exit strategy
Thursday 09 Apr 2020As we write the FTSE 100 has reclaimed the 5,700 mantle as it continues to bounce back from the damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis. The key factor behind the rally appears to be some evidence that countries in Europe are beginning to ‘flatten the curve’ of infections and deaths. Often the...
UK Treasury reported to be considering strategic companies bailout
Thursday 09 Apr 2020Having already committed to £330bn of funding, equivalent to 2.3% of GDP, to help businesses get through the current coronavirus lockdown, the UK Treasury may be making contingency plans to inject vital funds in companies most threatened by the crisis, according to The Telegraph. The focus would be...
Times are hard for value fund managers
Thursday 09 Apr 2020Fund manager Mark Barnett has been removed from investment trust Perpetual Income and Growth ( PLI ) . His strategy, picking under-priced stocks seemingly trading at less than their intrinsic value, has been out of favour for years, and the board at PLI cited prolonged underperformance in their...
Lindsell Train’s Japanese fund soars ahead
Thursday 09 Apr 2020Michael Lindsell, manager of the £455m Lindsell Train Japanese Equity Fund (0438418) , described his reaction at the outperformance of the fund last month as ‘flabbergasted’. The fund rallied 5.9% in yen terms in March while the benchmark Topix index fell 6%, opening up a 12% performance gap. After...
Scottish Investment Trust denies ‘style drift’
Thursday 09 Apr 2020Alasdair McKinnon, fund manager of Scottish Investment Trust ( SCIN ) , has denied that he has succumbed to ‘style drift’ after radically overhauling his portfolio, insisting the changes were in line with his contrarian stance. In last week’s Shares we suggested that the value investor had changed...
Market mood lifted by huge financial support but investors remain wary
Thursday 02 Apr 2020World stock markets staged a decent rally last week with major indices bolstered by huge financial stimulus packages. Most pertinently, a deal has been reached between President Trump’s administration and Congress on a $2trn fiscal support deal, equivalent to just under 10% of GDP, dwarfing the...
Why oil prices have plunged to 18-year lows
Thursday 02 Apr 2020Oil prices have plunged to 18-year lows of under $21 a barrel with over half of global demand wiped out amid the coronavirus pandemic, while in metals some clear winners and losers are starting to emerge. In the commodities world, oil appears to be hit hardest thanks to a huge drop-off in demand...
Housing market goes into coronavirus hibernation
Thursday 02 Apr 2020The housing market has become the latest casualty of the coronavirus epidemic as the Government lockdown snuffs out the nascent recovery which followed the Conservative election victory in December. Estate agents and surveyors had seen a sharp rebound in the number of house transactions across the...
Bill Ackman sets record straight after $2.6bn win
Thursday 02 Apr 2020Wall Street investor Bill Ackman has defended his 18 March appearance on CNBC , which drew criticism that he had deliberately scared people in order that his asset management firm Pershing Square could make money from the coronavirus crisis by betting against the market. Ackman says that rather...