When is a default not a default……? The Greek government finally persuaded private holders of their debt to accept a 75% haircut on their capital, and thus the latest stage, in this saga, is completed. Oddly, some committee is in session as I write, to determine if this constitutes a default, in which case, various [...]
Plenty going on…… A week when there has been plenty going on, some of it absolutely ghastly, such as the elimination of the Baba Amr district of Homs, in Syria, together with the innocent inhabitants. In a sense, the country is a crossroads for vested interests; sponsored by Iran, supported by China and Russia, but [...]
For some time now, we have maintained sizeable exposure to the Thames River Global Bond Fund across all our model strategies. Our CIO, David Oakes met with manager Peter Gekie Cobb last week as part of usual, on-going monitoring, but also to get a better understanding of why they think that the gilt market is [...]
Little has changed…… I suppose that it was inevitable, having reached our 100th edition, that one should look back. Not that I have read all of them, again, but it is surprising how little has changed over the intervening two years. Back in the first blog, I had found petrol costing a massive 122p a [...]
A few days away from the screens are a salutary reminder of how others live, and maybe the “key drivers”, a description beloved of psycho-babble pundits, but not the “former energy secretary”. You might think that the Telegraph would have Energy Secretary in capitals, but no. There is not long to wait to see how this plays [...]
Fees high on your agenda…..? As an IFA, the issue of fee based remuneration, along with the treatment of renewal commissions on your clients’ fund holdings post RDR, will no doubt have been high on your agenda for some time. Clarity on the implications for IFAs’ business and income model is constantly improving as 2013 [...]
Expect the unexpected… We spend our time trying to work out the way that short term trends are going to play out, and given that the long term is made up of lots of bits of short term that have been bolted together, it is important that we get these moves right. Often, outcomes are [...]
A kangaroo court……? I suppose that it was all but inevitable that Sir Fred Goodwin would be stripped of his honour by those that have none; he may have made a mess of RBS, but he was not acting alone, and he certainly did less damage than the Right Honourable Gordon Brown. Whatever the rights [...]
Decline in Thomas Bookings…… On Monday, the FT reported a slump in bookings at Thomas Cook, the second largest UK tour operator. The year on year decline in January is thought to be 33%, three times worse than rival Tui Travel, whilst online reservations have fallen by 45%. The figures, across the whole industry are [...]
How long for low interest rates……? Earlier in the week, one of the leading forecasters predicted that the current low level of interest rates is here to stay until at least 2016, and that the economy has pretty much ground to a halt. That might prove to be optimistic if the euro zone goes through [...]
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