Tom Stevenson
A bull market luxury?
The world-weary view of the recent upsurge of interest in sustainable investing says that worrying about environmental, social and governance factors is a bull market luxury. In harsher conditions, you might think, attention will revert to harder-nosed issues like profits and capital preservation. You’d be forgiven for thinking that, but you’d be wrong.
Running out of steam
Wall Street’s dramatic recovery in April and May has run out of steam. You don’t have to look far for why that might be. The resurgence of Covid-19 infections, to the extent that the US now accounts for a quarter of all cases, would be reason enough to worry that the market’s rally has gone too far, too fast. But there’s something else preying on investors’ minds as we pass the mid-year point - November’s Presidential election.
An alphabet soup of potential scenarios
Making sense of the mismatch between current stock market levels and the economic and medical headlines has brought with it an alphabet soup of potential scenarios. Investors are hoping for a V-shaped recovery while most analysts think a more prolonged U-shaped outcome is more likely. The pessimistic view is that the rebound turns out to be L-shaped, returning to previous rates of growth, but at a permanently-scarred, lower level.
Follow the money
Value or growth? Depending on which of these creeds you have followed recently has made a significant difference to how you are feeling about your investments. However, some investors believe we are on the verge of a shift in the relative performance of these styles, and knowing your growth from your value could pay off in the months ahead.
A new world
It has taken 12 years from financial crisis to Covid-19 to see the pendulum swing back again to the economic and social order that will most likely dominate the next 30 years. But what will the new world look like, and who will the winners be?
Does ESG stack up?
Every cloud has a silver lining
The five stages of grief
One man's paranoia, is another's preparation
A health story becomes an economic one
