It’s getting a little tricky to comment on a stagnant European equity market so just as well I’m heading to dinner tonight in Soho for the first time in a very long time. The leg feels just about up to venture to the west end but it has been a while….I think I can remember how to do this but I’m going to have to scrub up on some table chat on the way over! Rule number one has to be don’t mention Central banks because no one needs any more chatter on them. Lots of noise but none of it really mov…

Another day in Europe without a major move as broader indices feel almost stuck, right up near the highs from the past number of years but with enough bad corporate earnings to offset the good and a market still weighing up a macro environment which is very much paused pending further news. I guess that could come in a couple of forms with a lot of data due in the coming weeks that will give a picture of economic health closer to home, Chinese new year approaching and Regional U.S. banks starti…

‘60 minutes’ on CBS has been around since 1968, a colleague said to me it is an institution within American households and given that tenure it has been through its fair share of economic cycles. Powell featured in April 2021 in the aftermath of covid and said the “economy’s about to start growing much more quickly and job creation coming in much more quickly” which in theory is still going on today. Last night he used the interview to push back once again on the March cut by the Fed and note t…

Christmas eve for a Rugby fan with the Six Nations kicking off tomorrow eve and it’s quite nice to have something other to talk about than when the Fed are going to cut rates. It slightly pains me to say it as a Scotsman but I don’t think we stand much of a chance with some very safe, cagey selections for the first game away in Cardiff. A fairly cagey Powell stood up last night, pushed back against March bets and pushed the timing of the QT taper debate back a little further. Our view is that w…

A record 20% of drinkers gave up alcohol for Dry January claimed the a British Beer and Pub Association survey so congrats to all those that took part. The fun bit has to be deciding what that first drink is going to be and a nicely timed Thursday 1st of Feb to do it. It still might be too early to toast the end of inflation and declare the fight won but we’ll have a better sense tomorrow where the Fed think we are on that journey after the FOMC and press conference this evening. March everyone…

As I may/should have guessed walking past London pubs in December that whilst Diageo may have a few problems, selling Guinness isn’t one of them. Within the Diageo results Europe showed resilience helped by strong Guinness (org sales +24%) though with continued weakness in Latam, normalisation in the US and the dreaded “downtrading” in Whisky and Tequila shares initially fell until the U.S saved them, rallying late in the day which was surprising to us. It was a slow Tuesday as we awaited the F…

I had a weekend that my 10 year old self would have just loved. Next to my apartment one ginormous crane, spent the whole weekend taking down an even bigger one. I wasn’t quite sure how they got to the top of buildings or back down so it was a learning experience and watching it methodically take it apart was weirdly captivating (wild weekend I know!). They talk about putting in the building blocks and this was literally that. The market seems to be doing something similar at the moment, weighi…

It’s Burns night tonight and a slightly lonely one for a Scotsman in the middle of London. Haggis still hard to find, the sound of Bagpipes only heard through YouTube and only faint humming of Auld Lang Syne to get me through what was a fairly unexciting morning. But things all changed with lunch because….(big statement incoming) I had the best sandwich I have ever had! Dom’s Subs the place and I can hands down recommend for anyone who likes…well food. The morning followed a similar pattern to…

Hello earnings my old friend…. they are back and with a proper bang this morning. A lot of love for the large caps definitely the theme of the day and anyone thinking that the Tech space was getting a little overbought/toppy had to quickly revise that with the double results from SAP and ASML proving that the biggest Tech names can still climb to new heights and signs of Europe trying to keep up with the U.S. SAP made a new all-time high as the company announced broadly inline numbers and guida…

I watched my six year old play in a chess tournament with the grammar school across the street (only in places like London can you get a rival school at such a young age, this alone is quite amazing). Small tables separated by age, three six year olds talking to their three opponents, as my stomach was in knots on the side wall. Wins & losses aside, most notable when we got home was that the score was irrelevant, the idea that they could play chess at all was what mattered to them. They were pl…