Current Market Analysis

It’s possible to think that the Spac boom is near its end. We can approach this through theory, we can approach it through cynical realism, we can approach it through recent results. This isn’t to say that no Spac (or “despac”) deal is ever going to work but perhaps it’s time to admit that the … Continued

The ways in which values change as macroeconomic conditions change can be complex and not even obvious. One recent one, over the past couple of years, makes older British companies more valuable relative to newer ones. Now, of course, this doesn’t mean that all older companies are now worth more than all new ones. Rather, … Continued

FTSE-only ISA allowances could boost the AIM market sharply; scrapping Inheritance Tax could have the opposite effect. Read why below. Cast your mind back to November 2022 — centuries in investing, and yet less than a year ago. After the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget adventure, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is telling the nation that even though we are … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 09/25/2023 German IFO Survey 09/26/2023 US Consumer Confidence 09/27/2023 Bank of Japan Meeting Minutes; Australian CPI; US Durable Goods Orders 09/28/2023 German CPI; US GDP and Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) QoQ; Fed’s Powell speaks 09/29/2023 UK GDP; German Retail Sales and … Continued

There is much excitement in the cannabis industry as the Federales start to talk about legalisation. Or changing the legal description and restrictions at least. Or something in the run up to an election perhaps. This might not be as wondrous as many a share price seems to assume. The particular and specific is that … Continued

Investing in development pharmaceutical companies is one of those high risk rollercoasters that can be terribly exciting – and, if done right, profitable. But to be profitable it’s essential to understand the structure of how the business works. Precisely because it’s a rollercoaster some managements can be a little more aggressive, to be mild about … Continued

The US recession is merely delayed, not canceled. The soft-landing narrative is a myth. The government’s fiscal stimulus in 2023 has temporarily lifted the GDP growth rate. However, fiscal stimulus is not a reliable source of economic growth. It undermines productivity in the long term. It also creates problems such as higher taxes, higher interest … Continued

The ghastly problem with mantras about the economy, rules we think are certain, is that they only apply sometimes. A useful macroeconomic trade is to play the FTSE100 to GBP, or pound sterling rate. This does only work one way though – FTSE rising does not change the value of the pound. But the GBP … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 09/11/2023 Nothing of note 09/12/2023 UK Employment report; German ZEW Survey 09/13/2023 UK GDP, Industrial and Manufacturing Production; US CPI 09/14/2023 Australian Employment report; ECB interest rate decision and press conference; US PPI and Retail Sales 09/15/2023 Chinese Industrial Production and … Continued

The idea that a start up Vietnamese EV maker is worth more than Boeing does tell us that VinFast (NASDAQ: VFS) is over-valued. Well, either that or that Boeing is under-valued of course. But that VinFast has at times been worth more than Ford, GM, Stellantis, at times even worth more than two of the … Continued

Increasing Sino-US tensions, emergency fiscal measures, and a collapsing real estate sector all signpost a near-term serious economic shock. While economists have been warning that China faces imminent economic collapse since the start of the economic miracle, the warning signs coming out of the Communist country’s heavily massaged figures are blaring red. Of course, this … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 09/04/2023 US Labor Day public holiday 09/05/2023 Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy, Final Services PMIs for Eurozone & UK, US Factory Orders 09/06/2023 Australian GDP, Bank of Canada monetary policy; ISM Services PMI, Fed’s Beige Book 09/07/2023 China’s Trade Balance; … Continued

Tingo (NASDAQ: TIO) is a company operating in the agricultural and fintech space in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. Tingo is also the latest target of Hindenburg who insist the entire set up is a scam from start to finish. Well, that certainly plays into all our prejudices about Nigerian 419 scams and … Continued

There’s a revolution a’comin’ in the American insulin market – to the point we need a man on a horse to ride about shouting that “The Biosimilars are Comin’!”. Well, OK, perhaps not quite that inventive but the idea still stands. There’s a radical change about to happen in that market. And it’s not just … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 08/28/2023 n/a 08/29/2023 US Consumer Confidence, JOLTS Jobs Openings 08/30/2023 Australian CPI inflation; German prelim CPI; ADP Employment Change, US Prelim GDP, Pending Home Sales 08/31/2023 China Official PMIs; Eurozone Flash HICP inflation and Unemployment, ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts; US … Continued

The Fed’s minutes for their latest meeting held in July showed the committee’s interest in raising interest rates further due to upside risks to inflation that is already well above their target level. The Fed is also perpetually worried about growth, which of course has nothing to do with inflation. After all, people working and … Continued

Yellow Corporation (NYSE: YELL) and now, given the Chapter 11 (OTCPK: YELLQ), has managed to prove an interesting contention. Does a union contract – which gets the workforce partnered up with the management – add or subtract value from the company? From this example it would seem that the union is very definitely a negative. … Continued

One of the big stories of 2023 has been the impressive rally of the NASDAQ and the huge outperformance of Big Tech. The main driver of this has been US chipmaker, Nvidia. The semiconductor company that provides the processors crucial for Artificial Intelligence applications such as ChatGPT, has been at the forefront of the tech … Continued

A placing RNS is the constant fear of AIM investors, while spectacular gains are also never far from their minds. As a high risk, high reward investor, many of my favourite stocks can be found on the Financial Times Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market — or FTSE AIM as the snazzy acronym goes. I also … Continued

There has been a decisive recovery in oil futures since late June. A recovery that threatened to break decisively clear of key resistance and change the medium to longer-term outlook. However, the mood has shifted in the past couple of weeks, with futures going into retreat. This has come as there has been a shift … Continued

On 22nd September 2022, with the USD/JPY pair having risen above 145, the Bank of Japan felt that enough was enough. The Japanese yen had weakened to such an extent that the BoJ felt compelled to intervene in the forex markets (by selling USD) for the first time in 24 years. Over the next few … Continued

True, we’ve got to use a colloquial, not legal, sense of the word “steal” here. But the shareholders of Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) can indeed now claim that a court has said that their companies, their shares, were stolen from them. Just to make sure here, we are using that … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 08/21/2023 n/a 08/22/2023 Existing Home Sales, Richmond Fed Manufacturing 08/23/2023 Flash PMIs from Australia, Japan, Eurozone, UK and the US; Eurozone Consumer Confidence; US New Home Sales 08/24/2023 ECB minutes; US Weekly Jobless Claims, Durable Goods Orders; Jackson Hole Economic Symposium … Continued

There has been a shift in sentiment in recent weeks. After having rallied consistently for over four months, US index futures have turned lower. Previously, unwinding moves were seen as a chance to buy. However, we are increasingly now seeing rallies used as an opportunity to sell. The corrective forces are mounting, both fundamentally and … Continued

Techtronic Industries (HKG: 0669) (OTCQX: TTNDF) got accused, a few months back, of fraud. Of course, it was a short seller that made the accusation, and it was one of those slightly complicated to follow things. It was also one of those things where there was no immediate disaster likely for the company. It could … Continued

Perception can be crucial to the performance of an asset. Traders have been focused on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) having finished its hiking cycle. With other major central banks either still tightening, or potentially still tightening, the NZD has been mired in underperformance against major currencies. However, could this now be about … Continued

The Bank of England (BoE) is squarely focused on still fighting the high levels of inflation that the UK is suffering from. One of the key drivers of inflation is the cost-push forces of wages. The latest data on the UK labour market and wage growth will therefore be causing some furrowed brows down the … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Index futures are breaking, or are threatening to break below key support areas. The e-mini NASDAQ 100 futures have broken below the higher low at 15063, whilst the e-mini S&P 500 futures are threatening the support at 4411. If these breaks are confirmed, they come as outlook-changing moves. … Continued

We know from Fed Chair Powell at the July FOMC meeting that the Federal Reserve is data-dependent. It means that the data for the US labour market and inflation this month and next month (that comes out before the September FOMC meeting) will be crucial in helping to formulate the monetary policy decisions in the … Continued

Q2 corporate earnings season in the States has been little help for US index futures. Despite it being a strong earnings season for positive surprises, the associated boost that markets have been lacking. It means that as earnings season winds down, the positive outlook on the technical analysis will have plenty of heavy lifting to … Continued

The outlook for gold remains closely tied to the direction of the dollar. The recovery in the US dollar in the past couple of weeks has been negative for precious metals. Although gold may be holding up better than others in the precious metals space, it is still struggling amid a resurgence in the USD. … Continued

We all know the phrase, go woke, go broke. But as investors – or, if we refer, speculators – what matters is how true this is? We can all find the occasional example of any contention we wish to make – what matters is whether we’ve found a pattern. Patterns, by definition, are things that … Continued

Imagine if it were possible to invest in something you knew, absolutely, was a mistake. And yet still make money. Well, no, you can’t – investing would be the wrong word. Speculating on a mistake being made by others yes, that does or at least can work. As with this little flurry in American Superconductors … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 08/07/2023 n/a 08/08/2023 Chinese trade balance; US Trade Balance 08/09/2023 Chinese CPI and PPI 08/10/2023 US CPI 08/11/2023 UK monthly GDP, Industrial Production and Trade Balance; US PPI and prelim Michigan Sentiment

The Bank of England has hiked once more, for the 14th meeting in a row. However, just as other major central banks (such as the Fed and the ECB) have done recently, there was more of a dovish tilt to the decision this time. A 25 basis points hike to 5.25% is leaving GBP traders … Continued

Bonds have been a sure fire money loser these past couple of years – at least fixed coupon have. Anything with a fixed coupon always does lose out when there’re either rising interest rates or inflation. But now there’s that idea that the rate cycle has peaked. So, is it time to get back into … Continued

Oil futures have spent much of the past year in a bear phase. Selling pressure with a series of lower highs and lower lows has driven the price to lose as much as -49% of its value since June 2022. However, something has changed in recent weeks. Fundamentals on both supply and demand sides have … Continued

Anyone long of EUR has had a bit of a rough ride since the European Central Bank meeting at the end of July. Christine Lagarde shifted from a decisively hawkish position in the previous meeting to one of considerable uncertainty. The EUR was hit hard on its major crosses. However, with an unexpected upside surprise … Continued

IAG, AstraZeneca, Shell, Lloyds & Rio Tinto have all reported Q2 earnings; but what nuggets of investor information can be gleaned? The FTSE 100 is a misunderstood beast. While the index is often invoked as a proxy for the UK economy, the reality is very different, as 82% of FTSE 100 corporate income is derived … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 07/31/2023 China Manufacturing & Non-Manufacturing PMIs, Eurozone Flash HICP Inflation 08/01/2023 Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy, Final Manufacturing PMIs for Eurozone & UK, US ISM Manufacturing and JOLTS jobs openings 08/02/2023 ADP Employment Change 08/03/2023 Final Services/Composite PMIs for Eurozone … Continued

The pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to continue to hike interest rates has further eased after the announcement that a range of inflation metrics had fallen more than forecast. The relative performance of the AUD on major forex has improved lately as currencies such as the EUR and GBP have suffered corrective pressure. … Continued

Russia is trying to renege on the deal to allow Ukrainian grain out through the Black Sea ports. India has just banned exports of the common grades of rice based upon climate problems – or perhaps weather, who knows what they call it these days. That means that our speculative energies should turn to food … Continued

Oil has been moving higher since the end of June. After a bout of consolidation over the past week the price has broken higher once more (arguably a “bull flag” on the technicals). The latest driving force has been the talk of stimulus from the Chinese Government. However, this short-term bump higher could quickly turn … Continued

Polymetal (LON: POLY) (NASDAQ: AUCOY) (NASDAQ: POYYF) is about to delist in London (the two American quotes are really gone already) and will pop up again as a Kazakh domiciled and quoted company. At some future but as yet unknown date.  This gives us all a wondrous speculation. But one which is of high risk … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 07/24/2023 Flash PMIs for Australia, Eurozone, the UK and the US 07/25/2023 German Ifo Business Climate, US Consumer Confidence, Richmond Fed Manufacturing 07/26/2023 Australian CPI, US New Home Sales, FOMC monetary policy 07/27/2023 European Central Bank monetary policy; US Durable Goods … Continued

This is one of those really annoying – but unfortunately true – things about investing knowledge. Not everything we know, know absolutely, can be traded upon. Sometimes, obviously enough, that’s because we’re barred by law from trading on it. There’s a massive price difference between Polymetal (MCX: POLY) in Moscow and the quote that’s just … Continued

Echoes of early 2022 whisper across time into the wheat markets. What happens next? On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Or, more accurately, a war that has been raging since at least 2014 intensified. Putin’s failed attempt to take Kyiv within days would likely have had little effect on the commodities markets if he … Continued

In the last three weeks, there has been a decisive shift in the outlook for gold. A two-month corrective downtrend that drove a retreat in the price from $2072 to a low of $1892 (a near -9% correction) has now turned on its head. A rally has taken hold as two key intertwined factors have … Continued

There has been a significant shift in how markets now view the USD. The crucial data points of the past couple of weeks have put the dollar bulls massively on the back foot. A relatively weak Nonfarm Payrolls was followed by lower-than-expected inflation readings on US CPI and PPI. The selling pressure that has followed … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 07/17/2023 China GDP, Industrial Production & Retail Sales; US Empire State Manufacturing 07/18/2023 Canadian CPI inflation; US Retail Sales & Industrial Production; New Zealand CPI inflation 07/19/2023 UK CPI inflation; US Building Permits & Housing Starts 07/20/2023 Australian Unemployment; US Weekly … Continued

It’s been about a year since we were told that the US stock market really only rises at night. This is one of those things that shouldn’t really happen but then folk can be weird at times and it seems to be that this is in fact true. During normal trading hours the main US … Continued

It has been a while since I could say anything even remotely interesting about oil. However, oil has finally broken the shackles of a two-month trading range. The move has largely come on hope rather than anything more concrete in terms of the oil market. Hope that oil demand remains strong, and hope that a … Continued

US CPI inflation was expected to fall in June, but not to the extent that it has. The negative surprise is significantly impacting major markets. As traders react to what they see as the implications of the decline in inflation, an already corrective move in the USD is threatening to move into an accelerating tailspin. … Continued

FTSE 100 investing is infested with misconceptions and misunderstandings. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the common errors. As a freelance financial analyst, I spend much of my time covering the FTSE 100 — both the index and its popular constituent companies. FTSE 100 businesses all report their financial activities every quarter, creating masses of analytical … Continued

Since hitting a high of $2072 in May, the Gold futures have been on the slide. There are signs though, in recent sessions that this move may be starting to find a low. However, building support is one thing, building a rally is something else. I have taken a look at what is driving this … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 07/10/2023 China CPI & PPI 07/11/2023 UK Unemployment and wage growth; German ZEW Economic Sentiment 07/12/2023 Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary policy; US CPI; Bank of Canada monetary policy 07/13/2023 UK GDP (monthly); US PPI and Weekly Jobless Claims 07/14/2023 Michigan Sentiment (prelim)

The minutes of the June FOMC meeting did not tell us a huge amount that we already did not know. However, they do confirm the hawkish lean on the committee which leaves the Fed on a continued path of tightening despite the recent pause in rate hikes. The move higher seen in US Treasury yields … Continued

As US traders wearily return to their desks following their Independence Day celebrations there is a sense that consolidation is developing across USD major forex pairs. Views are becoming set that the Fed still has a likely one more rate hike to come this year before a prolonged pause. But if traders are settled in … Continued

Rainbow Rare Earths (LON: RBW) is a small cap (£50 million) London listed rare earths adventure. It looks like it’s actually going to work too, which is nice. But it’s also an excellent example of why we’re simply not going to run out of any particular metal or mineral that we’re interested in. We can … Continued

Brine, pegmatites, clay, spodumene, carbonate, hydroxide; these terms are quite simple to understand if you can spare five minutes. As an investor and analyst in battery metals, commodities, and equities, a very common question in my inbox is whether it is possible to invest directly into lithium. You can physically buy gold, silver, and copper; … Continued

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kicked off the July round of major central bank announcements with another pause in its monetary policy tightening. The guidance from the RBA suggests that there might yet be more tightening in the pipeline with data-dependent decisions to come. This topsy-turvy approach leaves AUD traders with a sense of … Continued

As we all know the lithium market – that “white gold” – is the new hot thing. So much so that we’ve microcaps like Western Yilgarn (ASX: WYX) rising 50% because people on the next property over found the right sort of rock that might have lithium in it. No, really. There’s a frenzy going … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 07/03/2023 Eurozone & UK Final Manufacturing PMI; US ISM Manufacturing, US Factory Orders 07/04/2023 Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy; US Independence Day holiday 07/05/2023 China Caixin Services PMI; OPEC meeting; FOMC meeting minutes 07/06/2023 ADP Employment Change, US Weekly Jobless Claims, ISM Services 07/07/2023 … Continued

From Avacta to Cizzle, the UK small cap market boasts dozens of cancer-fighting shares. Read more to understand what these companies are doing to improve cancer care. As an avid analyst of high-risk, high-reward London-listed small cap shares, I tend to predominantly cover mining and biotech companies. This is to some extent a self-fulfilling prophecy; … Continued

Major currencies have seen fluctuating performance in recent months. USD performance has ebbed and flowed, with major currencies often reacting in line with swings in risk appetite. However, there is one currency that has failed to take part in these moves. That is the perennially underperforming Japanese yen. The record levels of weakness that the … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 06/26/2023 German Ifo Business Climate 06/27/2023 Canada CPI; US Durable Goods Orders, S&P/CS House Prices Index, US Consumer Confidence, US New Home Sales 06/28/2023 Australian CPI; central bank governors of the Fed, ECB, BoJ and BoE speak; 06/29/2023 US final GDP, Weekly Jobless Claims, Pending … Continued

The outlook for Gold futures has been teetering on the brink of correction in recent weeks. A hawkish-sounding Fed Chair Powell may have tipped the balance for a continued correction in the yellow metal. However, the big question is whether markets believe him. Fed Chair Powell sounds hawkish Last week’s FOMC decision for a “hawkish … Continued

With CPI inflation stubbornly high, Governor Andrew Bailey must choose the path of least damage. A recession is imminent. The Bank of England has two official objectives in its monetary policy remit: It has two key tools to perform its duties — setting the base rate and controlling the money supply. While it usually takes … Continued

It was not meant to be like this. Inflation in other countries is falling, but not in the UK. Once more, the CPI data from the Office of National Statistics has come in hot. UK CPI has come in much higher than expected as headline inflation did not fall, whilst core inflation increased sharply. The … Continued

The Australian dollar (AUD) has been one of the standout performers on major forex in recent weeks. However, it may now be time for a bit of a retracement. Profit-taking is setting in this morning as a double whammy of factors hit the AUD. A rate cut from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and … Continued

Macroeconomic/ geopolitical developments Global financial market developments Key this week Date Key Macroeconomic Events 19/06/2023 US public holiday (for Juneteenth) 20/06/2023 US Building Permits and Housing Starts 21/06/2023 UK CPI; Canadian Retail Sales; Jerome Powell Congressional testimony (House Financial Services Committee) 22/06/2023 Swiss National Bank monetary policy; Bank of England monetary policy; US Weekly Jobless … Continued

The Bank of Canada paused its rate hiking cycle in January but then hiked rates at its last meeting. The Royal Bank of Australia paused in April but then had to start hiking again in June. The Fed also paused at its June meeting or at least skipped a rate hike. This was the case … Continued

After being much touted in the previous meeting and successive hawkish rhetoric from ECB President Lagarde in recent weeks, the ECB has hiked its rates corridor by 25 basis points. That much was expected. However, this is still being seen as a hawkish hike amid a sharp increase in inflation projections. If this runs true, … Continued

Inflation continues to fall in the US. The CPI for May has shown that as the sharp jump in price over the first half of 2022 continues to drop out of the data, inflation is decisively falling. This disinflationary path leaves me questioning the Fed’s next move after the pause in the FOMC hikes in … Continued

UK economic growth is pretty anaemic. Headline inflation has only just dropped below double digits. Some would arguably point to the economy going through a period of stagflation. Despite this, the performance of GBP continues to stand up strongly against other major currencies. The Bank of England is having to prioritise inflation reduction in its … Continued

International Airline Group’s (LON:IAG) – or as we all still call it, BA – next results come out on 28th July. We’ve just had their Q1 results here. Things are obviously getting better, the recovery from Lockdown is happening. But what we really want to know is how far is that comeback going to go. … Continued