The sheer scale of the fiscal changes in the recent budget were surprising, and confirmed growing fears around tax rises. But might UK businesses respond by boosting productivity?
Despite huge growth in demand, costs squeezes and supply constraints around raw materials and capacity are limiting expected returns in renewables development
After Jackson Hole, markets are pricing in big rate cuts for the US. What are the risks of disappointment?
Strong growth outlooks are counterbalanced by fiscal headwinds and above-target inflation, requiring a nuanced approach to capture value in emerging market debt.
Markets have moved to price-in more rate cuts for the US, UK and eurozone. Despite the commonality of the moves, the three economies are not moving in parallel.
Financial markets will still see Donald Trump as the likely victor in the US presidential race, despite Joe Biden’s withdrawal. What might this mean for markets?
Market odds for the Bank of England to cut rates in August are better than 50:50. We are less optimistic.
Interest rates won’t come down as quickly as some had hoped, says our CIO, William Davies, but further gains for equities are still possible this year.
Life under Labour: what is the macro background for the new Government, their likely budget plans and the impact on the economy?
While discounts in the investment trusts universe make headlines (the average sector discount has widened slightly over the first quarter to nearly 16%), as managers we get on with the day job of seeking out investments that have the prospects to grow and provide positive returns for the 16,000+ shareholders holding a stake in the CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust.
The world is facing a water crisis. Around the globe we either have too little (drought), too much (flooding) or too toxic water.
I think the pessimism over the failure of US inflation to keep falling should reverse over the next few months. That should halt the steady decline in the scale of expected interest rate cuts across Europe, UK and US. Current expectations are 75 basis points (bp) off in Europe but only 50bp in the UK and even less in the US. That’s a dramatic change compared with the optimism we saw at the start of the year.
Rate cuts have preoccupied financial markets since the start of this year. Inching towards June and the first central bank is yet to blink. The US Federal Reserve had, until very recently, been expected to take the lead. A series of stronger US CPI readings in the first quarter, largely revolving around the stickiness of core services inflation, seems to have put paid to those expectations. The April CPI figure wasn’t as bad as feared but ‘shelter inflation’, known more universally as housing rental costs is still persistently high. Now Europe has pushed forward as the more likely first contender, with June cuts being pencilled in.
Decarbonising Steel: redefining the value chain and the role of iron ore miners
The transportation sector has a significant impact on global emissions, but technology innovations, policy changes and shifting behaviours can reduce this. How are the different modes progressing?
After an exceptional 2022, the UK reverted to recent type with a big underperformance in 2023. With money continuing to disappear from the market, two potential catalysts for change have emerged
With real rates rising as inflation falls, we explain why central banks should consider cutting interest rates soon.
The CT UK Social Bond Fund has pioneered impact investing for fixed income, through investments that deliver positive social outcomes and a financial return consistent with the risk profile of the broad UK investment grade credit market. We talk to portfolio manager Tammie Tang.
Political noise is a distraction in any market environment but in an election year the clamour is heightened. So, in February we had one of our holdings, Nat West Bank, reporting its biggest annual profit since the 2007 financial crisis but in the days that followed seeing its share price fall on speculation of a possible windfall tax on the banking sector. As an investor, sometimes it feels like you can’t win.
After a challenging 2023 for equity investors holding anything other than the narrow band of large US stocks known as the Magnificent 7, there was hope at the end of the year that better times were on their way. While the risk of recessions lingered (in February the UK was confirmed to have slipped into a technical recession in Q4 2023), inflation was coming down and bond yields were falling in the expectation that interest rate cuts were just around the corner. But alas, investors jumped the gun as January saw sentiment sour and equities reverse as one central banker after another extinguished early rate cut hopes.