Well, that flew by rather quickly didn’t it… 2024 put to bed and back to business it is. Happy New Year to all readers of the Daily Snapshot and wishing you all the very best for 2025! Plenty to get our teeth stuck into today in what could only be described as a bit of a rollercoaster, with a risk-on tape early doors as Tech led the way following a combination of positive CQ4 revenue numbers from Foxconn and Hon Hai (Nvidia partner) alongside an announcement from Microsoft on Friday about its p…

As silly festive season continues to grow legs, I often think that the build up to Christmas normally tends to be the best part. The period between December 26th and New Years Eve usually all blend into one (“what day is it again?”) followed a few mandatory resolutions on New Years Day to help get back into the swing of things. Fitness normally manages to wrangle itself into most people’s lists, and those looking for some inspiration can look to Greek runner, Ploutarchos Pourliakas, who recentl…

During university, I was quoted €4,500 for my first ever car insurance policy. An extortionate figure which was quite a bitter pill to swallow at the time but had I read the following article, then maybe this would have been a different story. Supposedly car insurance quotes fluctuate depending on the time of purchase, with the cost of certain policies more than doubling after midnight, as underwriters offer higher prices during the hours when fraud is more common alongside the view that people…

What can you gift a man who has it all? I’m not sure if my father would agree with the latter part of that question, but I did laugh at his seemingly humble response over the weekend when he said that all he wants for Christmas this year is a set of Slippers and nothing else. When the bar is set that low, you would think that this should be an easy win, but I do not trust this nonchalant approach for a split second and the risk of disappointment remains high given that he is hands-down the tri…

This may sound absurd, but I’ve often wondered, how is it possible that I can get better internet connection in the west of Ireland compared to bang slap in the middle of London? However, I did find some solace in my suspicions being confirmed by the latest edition of midweek charts, which included a stat from the economist that mobile service in the UK ranks 46 out of 56 countries, giving it the worst mobile service in the ‘rich’ world. Admittedly, this is shamelessly quite a gen-z complaint t…

Using a bike as your mode of transport to the office is always a bit of a gamble given that the weather in London is prone to taking a turn for the worst and during a rather chilly commute to the office this morning, I did think to myself that I spend far too much time on Lime bikes, particularly because this was the exact same bike that I used to cycle home from the city only a few hours earlier. Realising that I’ve notched up 2300km on the old ‘iron horse’ since moving here last year came as…

Has anyone been to Aarhus? My search today for news that is not related to the US election led me to the discovery of supposedly the world’s happiest city which is also listed as the second most underrated travel destination in Europe. Cobblestone streets, winding waterways, and the world’s oldest living museum… seems like a bit of a hidden gem to me! Writing a market wrap on the evening before a US election feels like a bit of a pointless task given that the headlines are impossible to escape,…

With markets in a bit of a lull this morning ahead of the blitz of market-moving catalysts later this week: a) US election b) FOMC and BOE rate decisions and c) potential further stimulus detail out of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee meetings, a lack of volumes in Europe (most indices nearly -20% vs recent averages) cast my eyes upon Deliveroo’s annual report of the top 100 food deliveries which revealed a few interesting snippets. Salads accounted for 30% of this year’s g…

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, to quote the old proverb, and given that a lot of investors have been in ‘wait and see’ mode for the past while, forgive me for saying that the past two days have felt like a bit of a slog! However, the clock is ticking, and I have a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow’s session might tell a different story with the weeks first major event occurring close to home in the form of Wednesday’s UK Budget. Press speculation and Treasury leaks suggest a fiscal adjust…

Well the clocks officially went back yesterday, resulting in a much appreciated extension of the weekend and a reduced four-hour time difference here in London to our US colleagues for the rest of the week. The original purpose of Daylight Savings was to save fuel (implemented in 1916), and I came across an article on group of EU Parliament members who want to abolish this tradition, arguing that it causes more harm than good due to the health implications of changing the clocks on sleep cycles…