Just a few years ago Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the so-called BRICS were a top performing block among the emerging markets class, such that they deserved to be treated separately from the others. But the recent international developments have shown that this group is far from being homogeneous, as its constituents are…
As Mr Cameron sits down to Christmas lunch at Chequers this year he will try to put aside his feelings of foreboding about the year ahead. On a personal level, I certainly hope that he enjoys a restful and happy day with his family. He has, it is said, like Napoleon, an uncanny ability to…
As seen in this month’s Master Investor Magazine. Property prices have been on the uptack during recent years and have accelerated over the last few in particular. An apartment in the most expensive area of London averages an astounding £11,600 per square metre while the average for the whole London region is still a respectable…
With the FED hiking its key benchmark rate one should expect interest rates to start rising across the yield curve. Liquidity conditions will tighten and the FED’s balance sheet is going to shrink as well. Hmmm, not so fast! The FED has two trillion problems still to solve, as its monetary policy framework is years…
So, they finally did it! The FED has just announced the first rate hike in almost a decade. Investors have reacted very positively so far… but will the enthusiasm last? There’s no fundamental reason to think it will, as the risks that accumulated during the ZIRP-era will now weigh on the US economy. Yesterday, Janet…
By Dom Wolf, Co-founder of investUP – the crowdfunding supermarket To nobody’s surprise, the exciting predictions for the world of crowdfunding in 2015 were not entirely wrong. In fact, most of them were entirely right. So have an early Christmas present, wonderful followers of all things crowdfinance. 2016 is going to be BIG. You heard…
At the end of October, further to a trip to India, I wrote a piece on these pages entitled India Online. There, and in my longer piece on investment opportunities in India in the November edition of the Master Investor magazine (India Faces the Future with Confidence), I argued that the potential for online commerce…
Back in September I wrote a piece for these pages (Airport Wars: Heathrow versus Gatwick) in which I explained why a third runway at Heathrow is the best outcome for the British economy but that this decision is politically fraught. I am not going to recycle the contents of that piece here but, in a…
By Dom Wolf, Co-founder of investUP – the crowdfunding supermarket A year goes quick, doesn’t it? Before you know it I’ll be dusting off the crystal ball and attempting to offer wisdom to predict the top trends in to watch NEXT year. But before we do that, I thought I’d take a look at how…
“When I am dead and opened, you will find Calais written on my heart.” – Queen Mary I This situation in Calais is not getting better – for anybody. Our truck drivers are daily running a gauntlet of missiles and human obstacles; the French police are at wit’s end; the good burghers of Calais are…
