Prices and Markets

QuotedData’s economic roundup – December 2018 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the companies mentioned. Kindly sponsored by Polar Capital. Read more Roundup Brexit rumbled on and the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives...

The Indian stock market slid in September, extending its run of losses in 2018, and has seesawed since. Higher oil prices fed through into inflation concerns; rising interest rates; a fall in the exchange rate between the Indian rupee and other key currencies such as the US dollar; and what appears to have been, a liquidity squeeze (where some companies found it hard to borrow money).... Read more A sharp fall in the oil price since mid-October may now be...

Mark Gordon-James, manager of Aberdeen Frontier Markets (AFMC), has made a material personalinvestment in the trust, and therefore has shared in the pain experienced by AFMC’s shareholders as the fund has underperformed a falling benchmark index. He is, however, convinced of the fundamental attractions of the stocks in AFMC’s portfolio and believes that these will, in time, be reflected in AFMC’s NAV returns. AFMC : Aberdeen Frontier Markets – Incentivised to perform The board has introduced a performance-driven exit opportunity (see...

2017 was a particularly interesting year in the global energy markets as crude oil declined from around $55 per barrel in January to around $43 per barrel in June before rising again to end the year around $65 per barrel. OPEC's move to cut oil production levels as a proactive move to end the 3-year supply glut in oil started bearing fruits in 2017 and the bullish trend is building up momentum to continue in 2018.Crude oil is already up...

#IGCommodityChat: what is the future of gold? IG is presenting ‘IG CommodityChat’ – a series of live discussions focused on trends in commodity marketThe first chat looked at what the future might be for the goldmarket (this took place on 22nd November)Presenter Sara Walker was joined by Simon Popple, director of Brookville Capital, and Ross Norman, CEOof Sharps Pixley. The gold mining industry has becoming increasingly constrained by the scarcity of the precious metal. The difficulty in finding gold has caused...

Ian “Franco” Francis, the manager of CQS New City High Yield (NCYF), says that although markets seem buoyant, investors should be warier than they are. He sums this up with a quote from his former boss, who cautioned him by saying “Escalators do not go to the sky”. This is not to say that there aren’t any opportunities in the market (for example, currently he sees these in the financials and discount consumer retail sectors), but investors must be selective...

QuotedData’s economic roundup – November 2018 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the companies mentioned. Kindly sponsored by Polar Capital. Roundup Markets fell in October with stocks in Asia and emerging economies being particularly weak, on...

QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – November 2018 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of October 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Winners and losers in October In what was generally a miserable month for equity markets, Brazil shone on the back of Bolsanaro’s election, boosting JPMorgan Brazil, Aberdeen Latin American Income and BlackRock Latin American. EPE Special Opportunities benefitted from the sale of...

After two years of strong performance, Pacific Horizon (PHI) has suffered a reversal of fortune over the last three months. Sentiment swung against both China and the technology sector (both significant portfolio weights for PHI), with savage share price falls in some areas. However, it is possible that this reversal of fortune may prove to be short-lived, if China and the US can agree a trade deal. Pacific Horizon - Pause for breath? PHI’s strong focus on fast growing companies means...