magazine archive
magazine archive
Russ Mould
Five ways to spot a market bottom
Thursday 02 Apr 2020Late March’s sharp three-day rally is inevitably begging the question as to whether markets are nearing or are even past the bottom after the savage sell-off that dates back to 24 February. This column still has its doubts, not least because history suggests market downturns are usually littered...
Will gold shine again (just like it did after 2008?)
Thursday 26 Mar 2020One of the most confusing features of the current market rout has been gold’s failure to confirm its status as a haven asset during times of trouble. At the time of writing the precious metal is up by barely 1% since the start of the year and is down by 8% from the year high reached on 24 February...
How long does it take to bounce back from a bear market?
Thursday 19 Mar 2020This column recently looked at the history of bear markets in the field of UK equities. That analysis has proved to be rather timelier than anticipated, since the FTSE All-Share has just entered the eleventh such downturn in its 58-year history and the FTSE 100 its fifth bear phase since launch in...
The fear index reading could be good news
Thursday 12 Mar 2020When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, America was battling the effects of the Great Depression and the country’s 32nd president attempted to rally Americans round by declaring that ‘the only thing to fear is fear itself’. In the narrow context of financial markets this column does...
Are stocks heading for a bear market?
Thursday 05 Mar 2020The period of 24 to 28 February saw the FTSE 100 suffer its steepest weekly fall since October 2008, just after Lehman Brothers went down, the global financial system was on its knees and a global bear market was in full swing. The trigger for such a plunge has been the longer-than-expected...
Will the ‘Boris bounce’ fall flat?
Thursday 27 Feb 2020March could be a big month for the UK stock market. Investors continue to await news on the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and whether containment and quarantine policies are starting to work. The Bank of England will formulate its first monetary policy decision under its new governor, Andrew...
What is behind Bitcoin's latest comeback?
Thursday 20 Feb 2020At a time when a FTSE 100 member’s shareholder list looks flaky and shares in a fake meat company’s shares are sizzling again in the US it may come as no surprise to some investors that an alternative currency (or a fake one, depending on your viewpoint) seems to be coming back into vogue. Bitcoin...
Will the global M&A love-in end in tears?
Thursday 13 Feb 2020Readers may beg to differ but this column is pretty sure that it was the Financial Times newspaper’s Barry Riley, in his always-readable Long View piece, who coined the phrase ‘the urge to merge’ when it came to corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. (If anyone disagrees and has proof...
Look to January for clues on the coming year’s stock market performance
Thursday 06 Feb 2020There is a saying that a good start in January means the year as a whole is likely to see positive returns. Looking at the history of the FTSE 100 since its inception in 1984, seven of the index’s 10 best years came when it got off to a flyer in January and seven of its 10 worst showings came after...
Do markets need to care about who is the next US president?
Thursday 30 Jan 2020Despite the best efforts of the Democratic Party, it still seems unlikely that US president Donald J. Trump will be impeached, not least because the Republicans have a blocking majority in the Senate, the upper house of Congress. But Trump could still be unseated on 3 November, when Americans will...