An emotional return to the office today after 15 long months for a Redburn favourite. Colin the Caterpillar reappearing in the kitchen to huge fanfare as one of the team resurrected a much loved tradition to celebrate his birthday. Hard to know if we should be revelling in the return to normality of office life […]

I always hold on a little tight (you don’t get grey hair at 28 without trying really hard) but if there’s a moment when I really really hold on tight it’s Monday mornings. I should know by now they’re going to be quiet. I should know that people are setting themselves for the week. I […]

OK so there we go then – a short week that felt very long in all honesty but progress continues (Stoxx 600 +0.39%) and, despite the soggy weather, it looks like a decent weekend ahead. “Just right” the verdict on the big number of the day/week/month as the Non-Farm Payrolls came in a healthier +559k […]

I blame UEFA. I mean….it’s not a test is it. Two English teams playing in a European final and you’re moving the venue. Just play it at Wembley. Leave those who want to go on holiday to go on holiday. But no. They insist on Porto so all the VIPs can go and sure enough […]

“Shocking”, “Truly awful”, “Worst it’s been in a long time”. Nope – not recent feedback on my sales trading but comments I got today on business levels. It’s safe to say it’s quiet out there. Most desks down to bank holiday levels of cover with schools out and it’s still not clear what the catalyst […]

Memorial Day yesterday in the U.S the traditional curtain raiser on the summer holidays and we can now officially get the linen shirts out til Labor Day (6th September). I don’t mind a linen shirt to be honest, they hide a multitude of sins vs some of the other more “honest” fits out there and […]

I never liked football anyway. Always been more of a cricket man to be honest. Let’s move on shall we? Markets another slow bump and grind sideways and up (Stoxx 600 +0.25%) but within it yet more bullish data points that support the moves. The most significant being the largest stock in Europe making another new relative high – LVMH +1% today and +27% ytd and it still feels as though people aren’t quite at the right weighting there.

“You have to feel this is their year. Is this their moment? Beckham into Sheringham … and Solskjaer has won it! Manchester United have reached the Promised Land! Ole Solskjaer! The two substitutes have scored the two goals in stoppage time, and the Treble looms large.”  On this day twenty two years (and what feels like a lifetime) ago I was on Las Ramblas in Barcelona about to go and witness one of the greatest moments in football history.

One of those Tuesdays that feels like a Monday after the false start yesterday – volumes on the S&P the lowest we’ve seen year to date so not just the European holidays to blame for the stasis. We remain very close to kicking on but essentially the bump and grind sideways continues (Stoxx 600 +0.03%).

Well that was a day to forget but it might be a week to remember. Pentecost/Whit Monday meant a lot of markets across Europe either officially closed (Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Austria) or open-but-we’re-not-really-here (basically everywhere apart from the UK which has a bank holiday of its own next Monday). Interestingly in France, Pentecost Monday only became a work day for many workers in 2005. T