Introduction As many readers know, this Bulletin is written from notes we compile throughout the month. One of the most interesting aspects of this is the occasional feeling of ‘was that really this month’ as we start to write the Bulletin. So it was this month. The race to replace Boris Johnson seems to have …
Introduction June was the month in which the war Vladimir Putin thought would last 100 hours passed its hundredth day – with all the attendant problems for food supply and the global economy. In the UK, Boris Johnson won his confidence vote by 211 votes to 148 – but the dark mutterings continued as the …
Putting money aside for the future is one of the most fundamental principles of good financial planning. But with inflation at a 30-year high, and set to rise even further over the coming months, countless families and households are struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. As a result, the idea …
Last month, the UK’s inflation figures for March were released. Having been 6.2% in February, inflation had risen to 7%, the highest rate for 30 years. Across the Atlantic, the figures were even worse, as US inflation reached 8.5% – the highest since March 1981 – as the Ukraine war pushed up energy prices. In …
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, many of our clients have asked us if the war is likely to push up prices in the UK, making the current cost of living crisis even worse. The short answer is ‘yes, almost certainly’. We have tried to explain below what is likely to happen and …
Introduction The war in Ukraine, worries about food supplies, worries about the global economy… May was another month where all the themes we have become used to were to the fore. Despite this, it was a reasonable month for the stock markets we report on in the Bulletin. China led the way with a gain …
This month’s 54 per cent rise in the energy price cap has put the cost of living firmly at the top of the news and the political agenda. Following the increase, a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity can expect to pay nearly £2,000 a year for their energy, and this could …
In the middle of March, Russia was due to make an interest payment of $117m (£89m) on two bonds denominated in dollars. There was some dispute over the payment: Russia said it had made the payment, the investors holding the bonds said they hadn’t received the money. The papers generally reported that if Russia didn’t …
Introduction April was not a good month for world stock markets. We report on a dozen major markets in the Bulletin: they were all down in the month, with the honorable exception of the UK’s FTSE-100 index, which managed a gain of just 29 points. Why was it such a poor month? The war in …
Introduction Once again, the market commentary for our clients is dominated by events in Ukraine. As in March, we have included a special section on Ukraine and – as before – we must stress that ‘at the time of writing’ very much applies to the comments. This month’s market commentary was written on Friday April …
