At the beginning of 2023 there was a consensus of an early recession in Europe and with the USA not far behind. Economists were concerned that a continuation of China’s zero Covid policy would lead to another poor growth year.…
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Looking at global market sentiment reveals a more cautious investor landscape. Government bonds have done well and outperformed equity markets as a reaction to higher credit costs, a potential upcoming recession, and the threat of further banking failures. The banking…
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The US Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee (FOMC) has raised interest rate by 0.25% to 5.25%. This was consistent with market expectations. The increase in the Fed Funds rate leaves it consistent with the year-end peak implied by the Fed’s…
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The European Central Bank met on Thursday and raised rates by 50bps, in line with market expectations and their previous guidance. This takes the deposit rate to 3%. The bank lowered its headline inflation forecast for this year to 5.3%…
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Pension savers received a huge boost today after the Chancellor announced that the lifetime allowance (LTA) on pensions savings will effectively be removed from April, meaning that there will be no LTA tax charge when clients come access their funds.…
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This week, the FTSE 100 achieved its best price level since April last year, surpassing the 17 January 2020 pre-Covid level of 7674.6. This leaves it less than 3% below the all-time high of 7877.5 reached on 22 May 2018.…
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The second half of 2022 has been a more challenging period for investment than the first, given the aggressive interest rate rises of the US Federal Reserve and other central banks as inflation topped 10% in many developed countries. Inflation…
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There were three big market-moving stories last week: the US midterm elections, the latest crash in the unregulated world of crypto currencies, and the release of US inflation data for October. By Friday, it was the lower-than-expected inflation data that…
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Mortgage costs have been in the headlines recently after the rise in the UK gilt yield. Lenders pulled mortgage products in expectation of a sharp increase in base rates. Many mortgage products have now been re-introduced but at three times…
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