It seems there has been a dramatic step up in the trade wars between China and the U.S. this week as it has been reported that China is requesting back all their Panda’s from U.S. zoos and by next year there will be none left. I can’t help but imagine some sort of Madagascar remake in years to come to feature the Panda’s plotting their path back to China. If that isn’t a political play I don’t know what is. Aside from Panda diplomacy which we now have to navigate China are now on holiday for Go…

My day was saved by our analyst Ashton who came back from the AG Barr meeting post their pretty good numbers laden with gifts from the motherland. AG Barr are (in my opinion) most famous for creating Irn-Bru (out of Girders) though what was presented to me was their rival to Red Bull – PWR-BRU. Lacking a little bit of energy I put it to the test and its fair to say its got a bit of a kick to it but I guess that is the intention. The Snapshot could largely mirror yesterdays with Equities falling…

It’s a bonanza few weeks in the sporting world and many will have written off the European Ladies having been down 4-0 after the first session of the Solheim Cup but when the lone Spaniard in Europe’s team on home soil, Carlota Ciganda stepped up to drain her birdie putt on 17 the Solheim Cup was retained. Amazing scenes on the south coast of Spain. Putting together a round of golf is a tricky task and when things go against you it can turn fairly quickly. That is a bit like Equity markets at t…

“So far this year, despite pressures on the cost of living, consumer demand appears to have defied gravity!” Not from the BOE statement today but from Next. Alongside a very good trading update their statement was full of important snippets on the economy. They are finding it easier to recruit, the softening labour market may dampen growth in consumer demand and cost of good price inflation is easing. Defying gravity for now then but possibly some early warning signs for next year. Next year th…

The Snapshot has been fairly downbeat of late and I am aware of that. There haven’t been too many reasons to rejoice or celebrate and they still aren’t queuing up but it was a lovely start to the day to see UK inflation come in not just below expectations but below the previous reading. Despite higher petrol prices CPI fell from 6.8% in July to 6.7% in August and core CPI (ex-food and energy) was down significantly to 6.2% (cons 6.8%) after 6.9% in July. All supportive signs and traders cut pro…

Autumn is here – not because of the date, or the weather but because the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is back on the menu at Pret. “A warming, seasonal treat” they say and I have to agree. As mentioned before there isn’t a huge amount of this season that fills the Equity markets with warmth so maybe that’s where we’ll have to get our fix until October (hopefully anyway). European markets once again struggled and although the overall performance was better than yesterday it felt stuck in 2nd gear for mo…

They say that good things come to those who wait and lets hope they are right as the market has been waiting for this week’s set of macro events for some time now. No chance the Fed hike on Wednesday is the consensus (well 1% chance) but its all about the messaging with the market far more in the ‘they’ve done enough’ camp than some other onlookers (including us). The BoE meet after what will likely be a hot inflation print and will probably raise whilst the BoJ will be in focus given Ueda’s fa…

So there were 2 key events of the day and both dominated all of the discussion leading towards them. Firstly step up the ECB with what felt like the first 50:50 decision of the year. In the battle of a hawkish pause or a dovish hike it was the latter that prevailed. They have revised down inflation expectations ex-food and energy for 2025 which is quite interesting and the key phrase from the statement for the market seemed to be that rates were at levels contributing to timely return to 2%. Fr…

It’s September and that means (from my count) well over 40 European companies were at conferences today updating investors on a wide variety of topics as we approach the end of Q3. The overriding feedback that we’ve had in recent weeks is that most people don’t think this quarter is going to be great so it’s always an interesting for investors to hear from a wide range of companies and it’s probably fair to say some of the moves in the market today reflected this. The sheer overload of these co…

A sluggish start to the week it must be said made harder by the fact I was watching Scotland be completely outplayed by a sizeable South African rugby team sprinkled with stardust and skill. My first coach told me defence wins matches and attack by how much and it was certainly a case of that this weekend – Congrats to the Springboks, Les bleus, England, Wales, Japan, Italy, Australia and Ireland for kicking off in winning ways! Defence a theme of the day as the Cyclicals fought back a little v…