A Moment in the Sun
Being an analyst covering the banks sector has been a pretty thankless task for most of the last 14 years since the Global Financial Crisis almost destroyed the sector. Light touch regulation in the preceding years had left a bank system with extremely high leverage with little capacity to cope with losses should they arise.
All that glitters is not green
Were there a trend to define capital markets in 2020 (pandemic-induced volatility aside), I’d have classified it as the year ESG went mainstream. Of course, ESG factors have been discussed and debated for some time.
The US is truly exceptional!
You may or may not be familiar with the term US exceptionalism, this is distinct from “American exceptionalism” I might add and only a financial term. In a nutshell it is the concept that US assets look more attractive than those outside of the US, which leads to inflows from the rest of the world i.e. other emerging AND developed markets and subsequently …
When good is bad
With the US dollar the globe’s reserve currency, as US treasury yields rise, the reference rate for borrowing across the planet also goes up. There is obviously a clear link between this “risk-free” rate and the rate at which “risky” entities borrow money, be they companies or other governments (typically emerging markets).
It’s not just bonds that have duration!
As I sit in the office at home, I casually glance at the Nasdaq performance over the last few years and the performance has been startling! In the last five years alone the Nasdaq has more than trebled – significantly outperforming most other indices. The rise has been meteoric and according to some market commentators valuations appear stretched.
An underground revolution: metals, mining and ESG momentum
Mining and ESG in the same sentence? A contradiction, surely! Indeed, S&P rank the metals and mining sector as being the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and pollution, narrowly behind the oil & gas sector.
Where can an investor find high yield from investment grade issuers?
Where can an investor find high yield from investment grade issuers? Sounds unlikely doesn’t it, particularly in a world of quantitative easing where central banks are deliberately keeping yields on nearly all bonds at record low levels…
It’s good to talk!
So the dream was always to work from home. I’d heard about those traders sitting in a villa on a beach executing orders with a Pina colada in hand. Well now the dream turned into reality, albeit for reasons that I would have never imagined or wanted. I was at my desk, my screens were set up, my daughter was screaming in the background and I was ready to go, would my WiFi rise up to the challenge!…….
The Premier Miton fixed income team
Whilst it might seem a long time ago now as we are in the midst of the wintery months Lloyd Harris, Rob James and I set foot into Premier Miton, to start our tenure in the Fixed Income team. The glorious summer that the UK had enjoyed set the tone …
