MoneyWeek

There is always someone worse off than you. After almost a decade of shunning our stockmarket and making fun of our politics, global investors seem to have decided that we are a comparative safe haven. Equities have hit a record high, with merger-and

Warren Buffett (pictured), the 93-year-old co-founder and boss of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has put an end to the long-running speculation of what will happen to his fortune after his death, says Karen Langley in The Wall Street Journal. Buffe

“Global growth is tepid, but commodity prices remain high,” say Carlos Arteta, Philip Kenworthy and Ayhan Kose in a World Bank blog. Energy, food and base metals prices are predicted to stay close to 40% above 2015-2019 levels over the coming year. W

The UK housing market is “stabilising” following last year’s dip, says Reed Landberg on Bloomberg. Building society Nationwide reports that house prices rose 1.5% in the year to June, and ticked up 0.2% between May and June. Interest rates are still

“Since the start of 2009, the US S&P 500 has seen returns of 14.5% per year. Trees don’t grow to the sky. Above-average returns are followed by below-average returns, and vice versa. That’s how averages work. Mean reversion will rear its ugly head ev

India is one of the few countries to have outperformed the US’s all-conquering stockmarket, says Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. The MSCI India index is up more than 110% since late 2019, beating the Nasdaq’s 99% climb. India’s spurt comes eve

BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss says the group has stopped bidding on new offshore wind projects in order to simplify operations and reduce costs, says Emma Powell in The Times. At the same time, BP will spend more on new oil and gas assets, particularly

Shares in electric-vehicle (EV) maker Rivian Automotive jumped by a third last week following news of Volkswagen Group’s $5bn investment in the business. Rivian will form an equally controlled and owned joint venture with VW to “share electric-vehicl

Nike’s shares slumped by a fifth last week after the world’s largest sportswear group reported unexpectedly weak quarterly sales and scaled back its outlook for the year ahead, say Sara Germano and Jaren Kerr in the Financial Times. Nike now expects

The Telegraph Shares in engineering company IMI (active in sectors ranging from industrial automation to life sciences) have risen by 77% since March 2019. Despite mixed operating conditions, the company’s revenue rose by 4% in the first quarter, wit

Investors in the market for a cash-rich, defensive company should look no further than Spain’s Viscofan, says Wirtschaftswoche. It is the world’s biggest producer of artificial sausage casings, with 19 production sites worldwide in countries ranging

London Tunnels, which plans to transform an abandoned network of tunnels in Holborn into a tourist attraction with two million visitors annually, has ditched plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, says The Guardian. It intends to raise £30m by

Joe Biden met with Democratic governors on Wednesday as the president faces “increasingly concerning polls and growing calls to withdraw his candidacy” following a “calamitous debate performance” against Donald Trump, say Robert Tait and Sam Levin in

After months of negotiations following an election that “sent shock waves through the Dutch political system”, the Netherlands swore in its first hard-right government this week, says Claire Moses in The New York Times. Previously seen as a “bastion

The odds on the US presidential election are swinging around after last week’s debate (see left), with Joe Biden out to 8 (12.5%) on Betfair at the time of writing. What’s more, virtually all the markets related to the UK election will be settled by

“The business of big fat weddings [in India] is getting bigger and fatter,” with the industry now worth $130bn a year – double the size of the market in the US, says Penelope MacRae in The Times. Indian couples spend an average of $15,000 on their nu

French voters go to the polls this weekend in the second round of France’s snap legislative elections, with its centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, facing disaster and humiliation – and France facing months of political stasis and economic turbulenc

The posters will have been taken down, the advertising campaigns completed, the removal vans rolling into Downing Street. By the time this column is published (Friday), Keir Starmer will almost certainly be putting together his government. There will

● It’s not been a good week for CEO Emma Walmsley (pictured) and her bid to “reboot “British pharmaceutical giant GSK, says Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. GSK’s shares fell with a “wallop” after the NHS chose US rival Pfizer’s vaccine for the respir

Last week, we looked at the stories that defined different stockmarket eras over the last 75 years and produced exceptional returns. A few obvious lessons stand out for investors who are now searching for the big theme of the 2020s. One is that big,

Tracker funds (also known as index funds or passive funds) aim to track the performance of a particular index, such as the FTSE 100 or S&P 500. The funds may hold all, or a representative sample, of the stocks in the underlying index (physical replic

Britons have concentrated on paying down debt since the global financial crisis, “putting on hold expenditure on big-spend items”, says Laura Foll, who co-manages several investment trusts at Janus Henderson, including the Law Debenture trust that is

Activist investor Engine Capital has acquired a 5% stake in C&C Group, and is pushing the producer of Magners Irish Cider to launch a strategic review and sell itself, says Bloomberg. The US hedge fund believes Dublin-based and UK-listed C&C could be

■ India is to receive billions of dollars in foreign inflows now that JPMorgan is to include the country’s sovereign debt in its emerging-markets index, the first time that the bonds of the world’s fastest-growing economy have been part of a major be

The significance of wealth, privilege, and private education among British politicians is often overlooked, says John Harris. Research shows that only 7% of Rishi Sunak’s senior Tory colleagues come from working-class families, but with Keir Starmer’

“I’m not very good with money because I lived so much of my life not having any. The phrase ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ – that’s all well and good for someone who isn’t scared to open their post. I have a huge b

iea.org.uk Free-market liberals were divided over Brexit, says Kristian Niemietz. Those in favour looked forward to a day when Britain was free of the EU’s centralising tendencies, protectionism and corporatism. Sceptics argued Britain’s “home-grown

collabfund.com/blog “Nature is not in a hurry, yet everything is accomplished,” wrote Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. Giant sequoias, complex organisms, towering mountains – nature builds impressively, but silently, slowly, almost invisibly. This is th

capx.co Probably incoming Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves has declared she’s going to deal with the gender pay gap, says Tim Worstall. Finally, a politician making a promise that not just can be, but definitely will be kept! For we don’t have a gend

Under a new voluntary code of conduct, private car parks will allow drivers an extra ten minutes of parking time before issuing a ticket. Firms will also have to display clearly the rules of the car park and have a clear process for appeals against t

Thousands of small businesses struggling to repay loans taken out during Covid are hoping they may get more time. Groups including the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) are pushing for a change in the rules of the pandemic loan schemes amid growin

● The UK’s problems with low levels of productivity are well documented. But small businesses seem to have a particular problem in this area. Consultant McKinsey warns the typical small company is only 84% as productive as the average larger one. Sma

CQS Natural Resources is a £154m investment trust focused on global energy and mining equities. We pick the commodities we are most bullish on and the stocks we think are most attractively valued. In normal times valuations are reflective of a bullis

Margot Robbie “defines any attempts at lazy categorisation”, says Roisin Kelly in The Times. “Blonde Aussie bombshell and global pin-up? Yes, of course. But she has also become a mogul”: a producer, investor, and, as of last month, “now a liquor baro

NV Simpsons, Chalklands Classic Cuvée, England £29, simpsonswine.com I expect everyone will need a big drink after yesterday’s high drama. I type this column a week before election day, so I have no way of predicting the results, but in the spirit o

From Fascism to Democracy Martin Gilbert Allen Lane, £35 Britain’s leaders may think they’ve got a hard task ahead of them, but as Martin Gilbert makes clear in this book, the challenges they face pale in comparison with those of Italy’s leaders in

This week’s deal sees declarer in Four Hearts with just eighteen high-card points. It was a fabulous contract, but there was an important precaution for declarer to take. West leads the King of Spades. Over to you. * May make, may steal.** Might chan

Editor: Andrew Van Sickle Markets editor: Alexander Rankine Comment editor: Stuart Watkins Politics editor: Emily Hohler Wealth editor: Chris Carter Shares editor: Matthew Partridge Senior digital editor: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Writer/editorial assistan