Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Rathbones
Rathbones - Breaking down the barriers to DFM
Costs, performance and even fears of clients being stolen are all major concerns for advisers that have stood firm against the rising tide of third-party investment management services in recent years.
Rathbones: The double-edged sword of longevity
People may be living longer than before, but many of them still routinely underestimate how long they might live. And that means there's a very real risk that they could outlive their retirement funds altogether.
Rathbones: Yin and Yang
Copper is the world’s favoured conduit of electrical current. It is also a popular method of tracking the conduit of global trade.
Rathbones: Burnt Turkey
Every now and then financial markets lay a beating on a nation with a severity that seems completely unjustified.
Rathbones: A new speed limit
Well, we thought it would never happen: the Bank of England (BoE) actually went through with a 25-basis-point interest rate hike last Thursday.
Rathbones: From plastic fantastic to plastic pollution
Since its invention in 1907 by Belgium’s Leo Hendrik Baekeland, plastic has moulded our everyday lives. More than a century later, plastic fragments in our oceans have created one of the most serious environmental challenges facing the world today.
Rathbones - Automation for the nation: the future of finance
Artificial intelligence (AI) is infiltrating every area of modern life, from voice recognition devices like Alexa to driverless cars. And financial technology is not immune from the relentless march of AI either.
Rathbones: Plenty of road ahead
Despite an unpredictable president, rising trade hostilities and crumbling infrastructure, American companies are busy and profitable, and the outlook remains positive
Rathbones: Brexit means fudge
Brexiteer-in-chief David Davis has resigned in protest of the soft Brexit strategy revealed by the Prime Minister at the weekend.
Rathbones: Chequers
There’s nothing like an off-site to get everyone back on the same page. The warring UK Cabinet is meeting this Friday at the Prime Minister’s country house, Chequers, in the Chiltern Hills. Theresa May’s top ministers have been at loggerheads since her election – we all know how divisive Brexit can be. However, things have got a bit out of hand over the past few weeks. Cabinet members have gone increasingly rogue without censure, exposing just how fragile the Prime Minister is.
Rathbones: Getting serious
For months the US and China have been trading angry words about tariffs, but for the most part the spat has seemed simply that: words and unlikely to come to anything lasting.
Introduction to Rathbones Look forward series
In an age of ad avoiding, authentic and relevant information from reliable sources is becoming increasingly important. Advisers, just like their clients, want to be able to rely on what they read, see and hear to help inform their views on the world they live in.
Rathbones: An Italian Tempest
The Italian political crisis turned out to be a storm in an espresso cup. Damaging policies dreamed up by the right-wing/left-wing coalition sent Italian debt yields upward at a gallop. Then the President vetoed prospective Cabinet members and yields really took off. The two-year government bond got as high as 2.70% last week; it was -0.25% just three weeks ago. This morning, that had calmed right down to about 0.72%.
Rathbones: The good oil
Large-cap UK companies were no doubt boosted by the oil price hitting $80 a barrel – the highest level in four years. Greater sanctions on Iran have turned off the taps for some of the world’s largest oilfields before they even started to get going again. Another Middle Eastern exporter, Qatar, is also labouring under sanctions, while the Opec cartel is doing a stand-up job of curtailing production. Venezuela’s production is in freefall as the badly managed country disintegrates like a paper bag in the rain.
Rathbones: The unreliable boyfriend
There is a school of thought that says monetary policy has to shock to be effective. This argument usually harks back to 1979 when Paul Volcker took the reins at the Federal Reserve (Fed) and aggressively raised interest rates against the market’s expectations. Within six months, the US prime lending interest rate had almost doubled to 21.5%. Inflation, running hot at 14% when he took the job, was below 3% three years later. Markets didn’t see it coming and many investors – particularly bondholders – were routed. It was painful, but by getting control of the money supply inflation was tamed.
Looking ahead as central banks look up Rathbones
The threats of higher inflation and rising interest rates spooked global stock markets in February, pushing up government bond yields. We expect the trend of rising yields to persist and be a dominant investment theme over the coming year, with important implications for equities.
Rathbones: Doomed to repeat
Jay Powell made his first speech as Chair of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on Friday. It was a little drowned out though by a week drenched in ever-increasing tariff threats between the world’s two largest exporters.
Rathbones: A cold, wet quarter
The UK was the biggest loser in a tough quarter for global equity markets. Despite a wave of bad news for many of the US technology giants, the S&P 500 was the strongest major developed market in local currency terms over the past three months.
Rathbones: Pride before the fall
When Donald Trump won the presidency in November 2016, we believed he would struggle to make headway on virtually all of his flagship policies.
Rathbones: Too much of a good thing?
In the fullness of time, markets are a finely-tuned valuation machine. Risk and reward is weighed in countless transactions allocating capital to the places where it does the most good for society. But in the short-term it looks a bit like a dog’s breakfast.
Rathbones: The big squeeze
Volatility is back. After more than a year of record calm in stock markets, the VIX index of S&P 500 volatility briefly hit 50 as it exploded upwards last week.
Rathbone Investment Insights Q1 2018: Wait and Xi
Political uncertainty has dominated global events over the past couple of years. Surprise voting patterns have delivered Brexit and President Trump followed by an indecisive UK general election result.
2018 Rathbones Adviser Roundtable seminars
Following the success of the 2017 Adviser events Rathbones will run a series of roundtable seminars throughout January and February. At these events Rathbones will look at the year ahead from an investment and regulatory perspective.
Rathbones: Review of the week
Writing legislation is hard. It’s not enough to just sum up the spirit of what you’re trying to achieve, you have to ensure that it covers all eventualities, is fair and works the way you intend. And drafting tax law is the hardest of all.
What’s your inflation rate? Try Rathbones personal inflation calculator
Whether your clients are accumulating for the future or drawing down on their wealth in retirement, inflation is a key factor of which to be aware. Rathbones are pleased to announce the launch of a personal inflation calculator, designed to give a prediction of what inflation means to them.
Rathbones weekly review: Maoist Minsky
There is Hong Kong and there is the Mainland. There is the China that sees itself as preeminent and the China that opponents see as troublesome. There is the China that outsiders think they know. And hidden behind deafening state control, propaganda and an ancient culture, there is the real China.
Digging below the surface of UK indices Rathbone Investment Insights Q4 2017
Investors today are paying a relatively high price for the domestically focused FTSE 250 compared with its larger multinational peers in the FTSE 100. This may seem counter-intuitive given Brexit uncertainty. This divergence is creating both opportunities and challenges for investors.
Rathbones: Sickly situation
Sterling has had a raucous few weeks. We have long noted that, following last year’s referendum, the currency has become the barometer of Brexit. It is also the political pulse of Theresa May’s government.
Rathbones - The power of increments: small changes over a long time
Don’t be distracted by what seems potent now, try to look forward to what will really make a difference to the landscape. A fierce wind whipping around you today will have died away in a year’s time. But a glacier will have crept forward a third of a mile.