magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
Choices, choices. The pool of shares on lower valuations is getting bigger by the day
Thursday 30 Jun 2022It may not feel like the right environment to go shopping for stocks given market sentiment remains poor. Yet anyone prepared to look beyond the near term might find some great companies at more attractive prices than at any other point in the past two years. This year has seen investors flock to...
What OPEC can do about energy prices and why it might do nothing
Thursday 23 Jun 2022When the latest eye-watering energy bill comes through the post, or you hand over £100 to fill your car with petrol, your mind may not immediately turn to a nondescript building in Vienna, just a short stroll from the Sigmund Freud Museum. However, it is in this low-key location which OPEC or the...
The FTSE 100 was 2022’s star performer. So why has it ground to a halt?
Thursday 16 Jun 2022So much for the bear market rally. The FTSE 100 ground to a halt in the latter part of May and fell over in early June, meaning it is now sitting on a 3.7% loss year-to-date. While still better than many other parts of the world, it’s frustrating that the index stubbornly refuses to break out and...
Good economic news still struggles to drive up markets
Thursday 09 Jun 2022On 3 June when many British investors would have been taking a break to toast the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee the US reported a strong set of employment numbers. American firms added more jobs than expected in May at 390,000 compared with the anticipated 325,000 but this wasn’t a cause for celebration...
Many active managers have failed to justify their worth with UK income stocks
Wednesday 01 Jun 2022Fund managers in general have not shone this year when it comes to the UK equity income sector, if you judge their performance using a certain benchmark. I’ve looked at data from FE Fundinfo and found the top performer in the UK equity income space for funds was a tracker product, not one where a...
Valuable lessons to be drawn from the world’s oldest fund
Thursday 26 May 2022Sometimes it is important to get a bit of perspective, particularly when the outlook is as gloomy as it is now. Granted that’s difficult when the governor of the Bank of England is using words like ‘apocalyptic’ and we’re experiencing the most significant war in mainland Europe in most people’s...
Extreme fear and capitulation: looking for signs of a market bottom
Thursday 19 May 2022UK stocks continue to surpass all expectations by being one of the best performing regions for equities around the world. A near-2% loss for the FTSE 100 index is much better in relative terms than the 28% decline seen for the US Nasdaq or a 15% fall for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng year-to-date. Until...
Times are getting tougher so health check your investments now
Thursday 12 May 2022It’s always disappointing to see businesses struggle and sadly the numbers could get worse given the Bank of England’s warning about a big slowdown in the economy and 10% inflation. The troubles at McColl’s Retail ( MCLS ) have set the scene for difficult times ahead. The company has gone into...
Reasons why Amazon is not a great investment at the current price
Thursday 05 May 2022For years many investors have viewed Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) as an undefeatable business that can do no wrong. Wherever it moved in the retail space, success swiftly followed. The rapid ascension of its cloud computing arm helped to drive big profits and the share price kept going up and up. Having...
There could be more pain to endure from rising oil prices
Thursday 28 Apr 2022A higher oil price can be viewed as a tax on economic growth. For all the talk of a transition away from fossil fuels, oil is still key to powering the global economy and prices above $100 per barrel push up the costs for everyone, from the humble motorist at the pump to the largest global business...