by Richard Harwood | Apr 18, 2018 | Commentary, Markets, Richard Harwood
Whilst accredited as being an old Chinese proverb, this phrase was first used by an influential British statesman, Sir Austin Chamberlain in 1936 referring to the “(G)rave injury to collective security by Germany’s violation of the Treaty of Locarno.” His quote “ It is not so long ago that a member of the Diplomatic Body
by Shaun McDade | Apr 3, 2018 | All Articles, All International News Articles, Commentary, Market Update, Markets, Shaun McDade
“Trade wars are good and easy to win” (Donald Trump, March 2nd, 2018) In 2009, in an effort to slow the growth in imports that the United Steelworkers’ union blamed for thousands of American job losses, President Obama approved a near nine-fold increase, from 4% to 35%, in the US’s tariff on Chinese-manufactured car tyres.
by Blair Campbell | Mar 21, 2018 | All Articles, All International News Articles, Blair Campbell, Commentary, Market Update
I recently returned from an investment forum hosted in London, at which various fund managers and investment professionals presented on technology and innovation as a disruptor within industries and economies. One presentation was of particular interest, not least because it combines two themes we have implemented within our private client models: technology and India. We
by James Downie | Mar 8, 2018 | All Articles, All International News Articles, Commentary, James Downie
The current period of global market weirdness with next-to-zero interest rates, stubbornly low inflation, low-ish growth and asset price increases has been with us for nearly a decade since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) which culminated in late 2008. Until very recently, bond yields persisted in their trends towards zero and, in some cases, beyond,
by Andy Pfaff | Mar 1, 2018 | All Articles, All International News Articles, Andy Pfaff, Commentary
The world will become more familiar with the Saudi Aramco logo over the next 12 months, as the Saudi Aramco IPO – potentially the most significant IPO in the history of IPOs – draws nearer (See Fig 1: Note that the graph illustrates only the expected value of the IPO, not value of the full
by Joanne Baynham | Feb 22, 2018 | All Articles, All International News Articles, Commentary, Joanne Baynham, Market Update, Markets
In what many consider will the last of his budget presentations, South Africa’s Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, who is accused of state capture and rumoured to be one of the cabinet ministers who will soon lose his job, presented a surprising and far better than expected budget. Within that budget, he increased Value Added Tax
