Since the start of the COVID crisis, our aim has been to communicate our view on financial markets weekly before reverting to fortnightly in April but this latest edition, for a number of reasons, is a week late. We apologise for this, but will ensure...
As we edge towards September and the Coronavirus crisis enters its ninth month, the titles of the fortnightly CDC update appear, at first glance, to get more outlandish. This is not the result of cabin fever on my part, but in the case of this...
It will not have escaped the attention of many who read the financial press that the star asset performance this year, apart from Tesla shares, has come from gold. We will leave Tesla for another briefing but the precious metal is up by a whopping...
Some time ago I wrote a piece about the problems of benchmarks in the financial world. Having just issued the half yearly profile reports, where we talk about CDC performance against a benchmark, it seems an appropriate time to revisit the issue. The Financial Conduct Authority...
Many of you will have spoken to or even met, Alex Smith who has been supporting Phil Cain admirably since he joined CDC. Alex has progressed with his professional exams with such alacrity that he should soon be ready to move into an adviser role...
Following our ‘bumper edition’ a fortnight ago, this latest bulletin has a more slim-line feel about it. That there is nothing much to write about could not be further from the truth. We are currently working on the half-yearly Profile Reports which will provide a...
Welcome to the latest fortnightly newsletter. This edition not only provides our now regular views on how the economy and markets are coping with COVID19, but in the second section, we consider some of the key issues emanating from Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s,...
Since our last update on 10th June, equity markets have slipped back marginally but this should not be a surprise, given the strength and pace of the recovery since its low-point in March. Indeed, the gradient of the recovery in share prices had left many...
We have always argued that financial markets, all of them, not just equities, are driven by two pricing mechanisms. In the short term prices are affected by ‘momentum’ which is heavily influenced by sentiment. Over the longer term asset returns revert to mean. This means...
Over the period 1968-69 Hong Kong flu killed around 100,000 Americans. At the time the US population was around 200m, meaning for COVID19 to have an equivalence (population is now 330m), the death toll would need to be around 165,000 (currently circa 100,000). This is...