Do rising interest rates reduce returns on income investments? September 18, 2017 | City Talk Many will remember to their cost the infamous “taper tantrum” in June 2013. It was the moment Ben Bernanke, the then Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, indicated that the quantitative easing (QE) would be scaled back, or tapered. The QE programme had fed money into the financial system to stimulate the economy following the [...]
The decline of farmers and the demise of the ‘knocker-upper’ – history’s lesson on automation September 12, 2017 | City Talk For a striking example of the impact technological advances can have on whole industries, consider the fate of the humble knocker-upper. During the 19th century and a surprising portion of the 20th, these folk would, for a minimal fee, wake you up in time for work, tapping on your bedroom window with a suitably long [...]
Solar, bitcoin, tech, Tesla and tea: seven important investment charts from August September 5, 2017 | City Talk Each month, writers at Schroders pull together the most intriguing charts of the month. Solar production eclipsed (briefly) The US came to a standstill on 21 August as people looked skyward to witness a remarkable solar eclipse. But as the moon blocked the sun it also temporarily blocked solar energy production. California aims to generate [...]
The company profits at risk from rising carbon prices September 5, 2017 | City Talk The extent to which company profits and investor returns could be at risk from tougher climate policies and higher carbon prices has been set out by a new model developed by Schroders. The “Carbon Value at Risk” (Carbon VaR) framework, developed by the Sustainable investment team, highlights the inadequacies of traditional measures of climate risk [...]
How tobacco stocks could now be damaging to your wealth September 4, 2017 | City Talk A month has now passed since tobacco businesses – and their share prices – were sent reeling by a US regulatory announcement. So what was the news that, for example, wiped out all the gains British American Tobacco had made in the first half of this year? Was it perhaps about to become illegal to [...]
Inflation is back and shouldn’t be ignored August 31, 2017 | City Talk When you factor in inflation you will need to save much more than you might think. Not long ago, the biggest fear of central bankers across major economies was deflation. Policy after policy has been introduced to ward off this risk. More recently we have seen inflation pick up, particularly in the UK where sterling’s [...]
The future of shopping malls and what it means for property investors August 30, 2017 | City Talk The growth of e-commerce is reshaping the retail world. Online sales have been growing globally at an annual rate of close to 25% in recent years. This holds ramifications for the world’s shopping centres and malls as retailers re-evaluate their ‘bricks and mortar’ store strategies. Investors in commercial real estate funds, which often own retail [...]
Electric cars to charge ahead August 29, 2017 | City Talk In late July, the UK government announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel-only cars in Britain from 2040[1]. It joined the Netherlands, Norway, India, and France to become the fifth country to commit to ending the sale of traditional internal combustion engine cars. However, while it has yet to commit to [...]
‘We believe gold has entered a new bull market. Here are four reasons why’ August 23, 2017 | City Talk Despite significant US dollar weakness, gold price performance has been muted recently. It has been held back by factors such as a rebound in real interest rates and increased stability in the Chinese yuan, which has dampened near-term investment demand for gold in China. But these are short-term factors, which do not change our view [...]
Is it still possible to find value in retail stocks? August 23, 2017 | City Talk With the wider market so clearly out-of-love with the retail sector in general, it should come as no surprise that so many of its members are now flashing up as being of potential interest to value investors. On our Value Perspective blog, we certainly anticipate spending a lot of our time over the coming months [...]