Whilst the term ‘landslide’ in election terms is probably open to interpretation, as results go, last night’s was about as close as it gets ! The size of the Conservative majority is the largest for well over 30 years and this should now smooth the...
Given events in the House of Commons on Tuesday night, the Chancellor’s spending review on Wednesday was always likely to have the feel of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ about it. MPs certainly thought so as members began filing out of the chamber as Sajid Javid took to...
“Using his calculator with a blindfold on” – Laura Kuenssberg – BBC Politics Live 13th March 2019 The change to the Chancellors statements mean that the Spring Statement becomes little more than a legal responsibility to present the OBR forecasts, but this one in particular seems...
We titled our last market commentary “Why volatility might be the new normal” and so the suggestion proved prescient. We discussed the fact that the first half of 2018 was volatile, but at the half way point, markets were showing a slightly positive return. The...
As the title suggests, how one views yesterday’s Budget statement, the last before the UK leaves the EU, largely depends upon your political perspective. At first sight, the statement revealed some attention-grabbing giveaways, but Labour were very quick to repudiate this, suggesting the age of...
With just six months until the Article 50 deadline of March 2019, it is worth reflecting on the current state of EU withdrawal negotiations and the possible impact a range of options may have on the financial markets and subsequently on our portfolios. It is...
We began the year by reflecting on the fact that 2017 saw extremely low levels of volatility and that complacency might be the biggest threat as Investors became used to the momentum trade only shifting prices upwards. An idle observation of market performance so far this...
In preparing these commentaries we always review our previous year’s reports and in that respect the January 2017 makes for interesting reading. In it we reflected on 2016 as a year of unexpected events and political turmoil but ultimately a positive year for most asset...
Conventional wisdom would dictate that the first budget of a new parliamentary term should provide the opportunity for a Chancellor to be bold but given the tenuous position of having no overall majority and the travails of Brexit, a more prosaic budget was perhaps an...
It has been said that one of the first lessons in leadership is ‘to make sure your numbers add up’. The irony of this is not likely to be lost on Theresa May who, just as her predecessor David Cameron did with the referendum on...