No excuses for Britain’s dire exports
Brits wanting a holiday in the sun have to stump up a lot more since the pound’s crash during the financial crisis. Even after a partial recovery, the pound remains down almost a fifth in real terms...
View ArticleSir Mervyn’s walk on the wild side
The pound fell after it emerged that governor Sir Mervyn King voted for more quantitative easing a fortnight ago. James Mackintosh, investment editor, explains how investors are viewing the prospect of...
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As safe as the Bank of England
Among phrases you don’t hear any much any more are: Safe as houses As sound as a pound As safe as the Bank of England. It shouldn’t be a surprise that all three are out of fashion, after the US housing...
View ArticleSaving the world from 1994?
The Bank of England has finally snapped. It is fed up with being constantly criticised for messing up its forward guidance on interest rates, and this week began what looks like a co-ordinated campaign...
View ArticleHow much would you pay for £20?
How much is a £20 coin worth? The Royal Mint seems to have created a risk-free arbitrage, thanks to its decision to sell the first silver £20 coin for £20, with free postage (hat tip to Elroy Dimson)....
View ArticleAs goes January….
Old stock market wisdom has it that as goes January, so goes the year. As with “sell in May”, “run your winners” and so many others, there is some truth in the saying: in 62 of the last 85 years the US...
View ArticleHitting the target
The Bank of England has hit the target at last. UK inflation is at 2 per cent, bang in line with the Bank’s target, for the first time since the end of 2009. This is good news for the UK, which had...
View ArticleUh-oh, AO
Appliances Online is now AO, and it’s a hit with the market. Shares leapt 40 per cent as it floated in London today. The facts: AO had revenue in the year to March 2013 of £275.5m, on which it made net...
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Hedge funds
How exactly should we benchmark hedge funds? It is obviously unfair to compare them directly to equity indices, as the whole point of hedge funds is to aim for an “absolute” return, not a return...
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Submerging markets are not the norm (so far)
It’s easy to get the impression from the media that a new emerging market crisis is upon us. I wouldn’t rule it out, but so far what we’ve seen barely counts as a crisis even in countries such as...
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Debt deflation
Falling prices are great if you’re a consumer. They’re no good if you’re an indebted government. One measure of this is the interest rate the government pays, adjusted for inflation. If tax revenues...
View ArticleJapan’s stock market fall by numbers
There’s a basic formula for trading Abenomics: NKY ≈ SPX x JPYRead more
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The EM ETF: an Exchange-Traded Farce?
Quite a few people seem to dislike a column I wrote earlier this week on exchange-traded funds and their role in the emerging market sell-off. So let me offer a little extra data that was not in the...
View ArticleEmerging Markets could get cheaper: but they’re cheap
Are emerging markets a bargain or yet another proverbial falling knife? More bargain-hunters are starting to appear. Today Barclays equity strategists Dennis Jose, Ian Scott and Joao Toniato went so...
View ArticleUnemployment in Europe equals US
Some interesting charts from Credit Suisse this morning are testing the idea that eurozone unemployment looks particularly awful. Adjust for the rising number of people participating in the workforce...
View ArticleOnwards and upwards
As the market rally falters (perhaps), John Authers and I have a new home on FT Alphaville. This blog will no longer be updated, but our occasional thoughts and more frequent output will appear at...
View ArticleNo excuses for Britain’s dire exports
Brits wanting a holiday in the sun have to stump up a lot more since the pound’s crash during the financial crisis. Even after a partial recovery, the pound remains down almost a fifth in real terms...
View ArticleSir Mervyn’s walk on the wild side
The pound fell after it emerged that governor Sir Mervyn King voted for more quantitative easing a fortnight ago. James Mackintosh, investment editor, explains how investors are viewing the prospect of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
As safe as the Bank of England
Among phrases you don’t hear any much any more are: Safe as houses As sound as a pound As safe as the Bank of England. It shouldn’t be a surprise that all three are out of fashion, after the US housing...
View ArticleSaving the world from 1994?
The Bank of England has finally snapped. It is fed up with being constantly criticised for messing up its forward guidance on interest rates, and this week began what looks like a co-ordinated campaign...
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