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1 month ago | 
trustnet.com | David Brenchley |Kepler Partners
What Trump gives in tax cuts with one hand might be taken away by higher inflation with another hand. I’m fully aware that writing an article about the impact of the new US administration’s policies may be a futile effort. It’s quite possible that everything I say here will be out-of-date by the time I’ve finished writing, let alone by the time of publication. By the same token, the US is such a large part of global financial markets that it probably needs to be written. So, here goes.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
trustnet.com | David Brenchley |Kepler Partners
We’ve seen more evidence that US exceptionalism will continue unabated under president-elect Donald Trump and a sense of inevitable doom hanging over the UK recently. Yet, it’s worth noting that, from an investment perspective, there are pockets of good news emerging on this side of the pond. One area of interest is property, where capital values are starting to stabilise, suggesting we’ve seen the bottom of the cycle and buoying real estate investment trusts (REITs).
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | Jo Groves |Kepler Partners
Let’s not beat about the bush: the last decade has not been kind to European equities or, as one European fund manager aptly noted, they’ve endured a hangover to rival all others. While the S&P 500 has headed inexorably upwards, Europe has faced a litany of headwinds from stagnant GDP growth and weak consumer confidence to an energy crisis and the lingering effects of austerity-driven policies. That said, investors taking a longer-term view on Europe have historically been well rewarded.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | David Brenchley |Kepler Partners
It’s perhaps the most hackneyed finance-related cliché, but diversification being the only free lunch in investing has rarely been as important a concept as it is now – a time when stock markets are more concentrated than they’ve been for 40 years or more. The 10 biggest companies in the S&P 500 index account for 36% of the index. The last time we saw anything like this kind of concentration was in the early 1970s.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | Jo Groves |Kepler Partners
The weather is on the turn and investor sentiment may just be following suit. After a barnstorming run, the so-called Magnificent Seven have hit somewhat of a rocky patch as the lack of tangible returns from the billions of dollars poured into artificial intelligence (AI) have started to test investor patience.
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Aug 28, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | David Brenchley |Kepler Partners
I’m very much looking forward to next year’s holiday in Japan, so much so that I’ve been considering taking out some yen now, six months ahead of when we plan to go, just in case the exchange rate moves against us more than it already has. I’d considered doing so in July, when £1 bought 207 yen, but since the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years, that has come in to about 190 yen.
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Jul 22, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | Jo Groves |Kepler Partners
June ushered in the eighth consecutive month of net inflows into emerging market funds, with Asia (ex-China) taking the lion’s share. So why have investors been adding Asian equities to their buy lists? Well, recent performance has certainly played its part, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index chalking up a healthy total return of almost 9% in sterling terms, in the first half of 2024. But this ignores the bigger picture: put simply, the region is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | David Brenchley |Kepler Partners
It is unlikely that July’s general election will move the dial for the UK stock market – the outcome is seemingly well-known and, anyway, both main political parties seem to be business-friendly. Still, many column inches have been used up debating whether the FTSE will prefer a Conservative victory, or a Labour triumph, and which sectors might benefit from either outcome.
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May 31, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | Jo Groves |Kepler Partners
Uninspiring, underperforming and deeply unpopular. Just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind given the divergence in the fortunes of UK equities and their US peers over the past couple of years. April ushered in the 35th consecutive month of net outflows from UK equity funds and, putting this into context, UK investors poured more money into North American equity funds in the four months ending March 2024 than in the previous nine years combined, according to Trustnet.
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Apr 23, 2024 | 
trustnet.com | David Kimberley |Kepler Partners
Last year returns in US equities were driven by an exceptionally concentrated group of companies. Close to 70% of returns in the S&P 500 came from just 10 stocks. A consequence of this was only 28% of companies outperformed the benchmark. Overexuberance around AI stocks was partly responsible for this. However, another argument is that this is also being driven by passive flows, which are fuelling a giant momentum trade.
