News & Information

July: Treading a fine line.  UK markets drifted lower in the first half of the month before rallying on a lower than anticipated annual inflation print of 7.9% (falling from 8.7%). Energy and food price inflation continues to fall and is expected to fall further. Expectations are for the Bank of England to still raise… Click to find out more

June: High inflation and further UK rate rises drag on UK market UK markets failed to make headway, again materially underperforming other major markets such as the US, which continued to be buoyed by its strong mega cap technology sector as excitement over Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to make headlines. With May’s inflation print remaining… Click to find out more

May: Stubbornly high inflation May saw a significant fall in UK equities, materially underperforming other major markets such as the US, which was buoyed by its strong mega cap technology sector. The Bank of England again raised interest rates and signalled that there are more interest rate rises to come as the April inflation print… Click to find out more

April: M&A galore April saw a rebound in global equity markets following the worries of a banking crisis in March which saw three US banks face liquidation and Credit Suisse rescued by UBS. We believe the events have been contained and specific to poorly managed banks. The banking sector has staged a partial recovery in… Click to find out more

March: This is not Global Financial Crisis 2 A month can be a long time in the investment world, and this most certainly proved the case this March. February ended with the FTSE 100 flirting with record highs and genuine belief that the UK economy was likely to avoid recession. However, March saw three US… Click to find out more

February: FTSE hits 8000 (but fails to hold the level) The FTSE 100 hit record highs in February surpassing the 8000 level for the first time before coming off its highs. Whilst the FTSE 100, with its significant exposure to oil & gas and mining companies, may have hit new highs, the more UK focused… Click to find out more

A strong start to 2023 for equities Last month we wrote that a Christmas rally had been more of a whimper but this month saw strong gains for global equities with the FTSE 100 hitting four-year highs. The FTSE 250 and small caps also enjoyed a strong month but remain well below recent year highs… Click to find out more

December: the Santa Christmas Whimper The Santa rally failed to materialise as equity markets fell in December. The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England both again raised interest rates. Optimists believe we are nearing the end of the rate raising cycle, others believe there are more rises to come and rates may need… Click to find out more

November: FTSE 100 records best month since November 2020 Last month we asked, ‘Is this market for turning?’ as we felt the point of maximum pessimism (the bungled Kwarteng mini budget and Truss’s brief Premiership) had passed. November proved a constructive month for equity markets. Interest rates were raised in both the UK and US… Click to find out more

October: is this market for turning? Politics again was at the forefront as the government U-turned on its controversial mini budget of September 23. As readers will be well aware, this led to the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and was soon followed by the resignation of Liz Truss, who at 49 days, proved to… Click to find out more

September: Market turmoil – but we continue to invest through the cycle Last month we suggested August may be a summer lull before the storm (https://www.rcbpo.co.uk/news-articles/ifsl-rc-brown-uk-primary-opportunities-fund-update-august-2022/). Sadly we were correct in what proved to be one of the worst months for global equities since the Covid crisis emerged in early 2020. A 50bp rise in… Click to find out more

August: A summer lull before the storm? Markets failed to hold onto last month’s bear market rally as equities lost ground during August. The outlook remains a difficult one with inflation still rising (UK inflation hit 40 year highs of over 10%) and the Bank of England raised interest rates by 50bps to 1.75%. Further… Click to find out more