When I settled down to write my first article for The Whistler, I was ‘working from home’ typing a few lines, and juggling a bouncy – and somewhat noisy – baby. A couple of days ago, that baby celebrated his 16th birthday; now all muscles and hormones, strong and handsome, with the world at his feet. Continue reading The years – how they fly
Tag Archives: FTSE
That was 2013
With 2013 behind us, and the New Year stretching out ahead, time for a look back at the experience of last year and the possibilities for 2014. I think that it is fair to say that last year was quite a successful one for investment markets. The FTSE100 closed up 14.4%, but with the addition of dividends, this rises to 18.7%. On a similar ‘total returns’ basis, the FTSE250 ended up 32.3% and the All Share, 20.8%. All very creditable, especially when compared to a static Bank Base Rate of 0.5% and the best of the High Street saving accounts struggling to return as much as a couple of percent.
Continue reading That was 2013
What price financial advice?
As I sit down to write this article, the FTSE100 is comfortably over the 6000 level, and at its highest for nearly five years. Could it be that the market-makers feel that the woes of the last few years are all behind us? Well, probably not. However, things are looking much better than they did 12 months ago. I guarantee that there will be upsets, but a Fund Manager I spoke with a few days ago told me how he is looking forward to the occasional upsets in the markets nearly as much as the prospect of some decent gains. He says it is like “going to the sales!”
Continue reading What price financial advice?
In it for the long term
Two things are uppermost on my mind, as I try to think of some nuggets to fill this column. Firstly, wishing that I had never brought up the subject of volatility! Nothing seems to have been steady in world markets for months, and as I write, the FTSE100 is some 10% less than when I wrote my last article (having only just recovered a little under 300 points from a recent low).
During the summer months, in what is often referred to as ‘thin’ trading – as volumes tend to be lower, market ups and downs are far from uncommon. However, the current world economic climate has meant that the customary excitability has been magnified a little more than somewhat. It may well be that this interesting state of affairs goes on for some while, unless there is some form of human intervention. Given that there are going to be elections in both the UK and the USA in the next few years, and the propensity for Governments to sweeten the electorate for a year or so prior to such elections, then such stimulus is far from unexpected. In fact, Barack Obama has just made a proposal for a new round of expenditure totalling some $447bn, designed to stimulate the US economy. If these proposals are agreed (and this is far from a foregone conclusion), then it may pour some useful oil on troubled waters. However, it may well not be enough to cure the malaise. Some commentators are saying that it could be 2013 before there is an appreciable upturn in major western markets.
Continue reading In it for the long term
Looking for Answers
As I write this article, the FTSE is a little over 6000, pretty much as it was when I was writing for the last issue of The Whistler. Not that interesting in itself, but having been down by some 400 points in the 2 months between, it shows the volatility – to which I referred in my previous article.
There are many factors involved in what moves the markets, but recently eyes have turned to Greece. The markets are not worried about Greece, the country; nor particularly about Spain, Ireland or Portugal (the so-called PIGS). What does concern them is the affect that the problems in these countries may have on the banking system within the Euro-zone. The Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, summed it up by saying “the direct exposure of any of the British banks to Greek debt is negligible. The unknown is anyone’s indirect exposure. It is nigh on impossible to trace the tree all the way through – what happens if a British bank has lent to a French bank who has lent to a German bank who has lent to an Italian bank who has lent to a Belgian bank, which is about to go under because it cannot take the losses on its portfolio of Greek debt?” The answer is that no-one knows.
Continue reading Looking for Answers
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