Savers cut pension withdrawals amid market volatility and Brexit uncertainty March 11, 2019 Savers have responded “prudently” to Brexit uncertainty and market volatility by cutting pension withdrawals. Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the introduction of pension freedoms, an AJ Bell survey found that regular annual withdrawals were on average 4.7 per cent of the fund value – a third lower than 12 months ago. Read more: With £9.2bn [...]
Pensions watchdog drops investigation into publishing giant Johnston Press March 11, 2019 The pensions watchdog has dropped its investigation into the sale of newspaper publisher Johnston Press. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) probe was launched in November after the publishing giant, which owned the I newspaper, The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, was sold to JPI Media out of “pre-pack” administration. Read more: Johnston Press administrator warns of [...]
River and Mercantile ‘focused on conduct’ following City watchdog investigation March 11, 2019 River and Mercantile has said it will focus on conduct as it moves to reassure investors in the wake of an investigation by the City watchdog. The Financial Conduct Authority fined the asset management firm £109,000 last month after it was found to have broken competition law, and former portfolio manager Philip Rodrigs was sacked [...]
Investors increase alternative asset portfolios due to market volatility March 11, 2019 Investors are increasing the percentage of their portfolios dedicated to alternative assets as volatility hits mainstream markets. One in four private investors have 20 per cent or more of their overall portfolio allocated to alternative assets such as private equity, infrastructure and real estate, according to research by Connection Capital. Read more: Ares Management injects [...]
This investment clock says what assets to buy and when March 11, 2019 | City Talk By Tom Bailey from interactive investor. It’s inevitable that the unremitting global economic cycle will impact stock markets, but when? The economist Paul Samuelson once joked that the stock market has predicted nine of the past seven recessions. But while the over-reactive nature of equity market investors and their poor predictive powers ring true, there [...]
AI’s success story still has a few missing chapters March 11, 2019 This article is not written by robots – we promise – but apparently the day when they could be is already upon us. We have just finished reading about the GPT-2 text generator which, according to this Spectator piece, “not only does text analysis and augmentation, but generates highly sophisticated content”. “It can effectively write articles,” [...]
Alfa Financial Software up 24 per cent and could go higher March 10, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor Worth only a fraction of its £1bn peak, Alfa Financial is seriously undervalued, says this pro investor. Since taking the tech sector by storm in 2017 following its near-£1 billion IPO, days like today haven’t come around too often for Alfa Financial Software (LSE:ALFA). A year ago, its shares [...]
14 shares for your ISA March 9, 2019 | City Talk By Richard Beddard from interactive investor. Richard reveals three rules, codified in his Decision Engine, that reduce the stress of trading. Every five weeks I share my Decision Engine’s ranking table, which orders the shares I follow by the scores I have given them. The scores are a measure of confidence a company will turn [...]
UK assets are very compelling when looked at on a global basis March 8, 2019 | Sponsored As Morning Wire is chatting with Mark Slater, warnings of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit are again flashing across the media headlines. The biggest news story in town is impossible to ignore as Theresa May, Donald Tusk and co make painfully incremental progress in their high-stakes discussions about Britain’s EU exit. But as the politicians flounder, Slater’s [...]
Stockwatch: A recovery play and takeover target March 8, 2019 | City Talk By Edmond Jackson from interactive investor Persistent director buying implies long-term value at this well-known firm, argues our shares analyst. Have shares in £260 million price comparison website Gocompare.com (LSE:GOCO) finally bottomed out? Four non-executive directors appear to think so, buying nearly £44,000 worth of stock at around 65p once the company was out of [...]