The outperformance of small and mid-cap (SMID) stocks relative to their large-cap peers is a much debated anomaly but the evidence is clear over the long term. SMID stocks have outperformed large caps by an impressive by 114% since 2000.
Since he promised to do “whatever it takes” to save the Eurozone in 2012, nobody could accuse ECB President Mario Draghi of lacking endeavour. The same could also be said of the other main central banks who have pushed the boundaries of unconventional policy further than most had ever expected. But, have they gone too far with their latest innovation – a Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP)?
The first quarter of 2016 was a volatile start to the year, with January being one of the worst starts to a year on record. While we view the low trajectory of global growth as a continued concern for markets going forward, we can draw some comfort from the fact that many of the risks which flared up in the first quarter are relatively discreet.
The new Companies Act introduced in 2015 makes it easier and less cumbersome for business owners to run their business through a limited or unlimited company structure. One of the major and sometimes overlooked benefits of running your business via a company is the ability to convert significant pre-tax trading profits into personally owned retirement assets through company contributions rather than personal pension contributions.
This election year in the US is proving to be particularly interesting with the increased likelihood of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump battling it out on 8th November. In this article we discuss our view of what impact the 45th President of the United States will have on the global economy.
The medium-term outlook for global equities remains positive. This view is driven by the persuasive macro background, as discussed in this article.
The recently published Finance Bill contains a number of interesting developments, in particular in the area of postretirement planning.
Global mergers and acquisitions (‘M&A’) activity looks set to accelerate in 2014 and mid-cap equities are best placed to benefit.
Today, as we enter 2014, investors seem to be confident about the prospects for another strong year in equities. Many of the conditions necessary for a continuation of the positive market environment we have experienced since late 2011 remain in place, but is this confidence misplaced?
Pension changes for 2014 as outlined in yesterday’s Budget speech suggest that the new pensions taxation regime is now settling down after a period of much uncertainty since the concept of a capped pension fund threshold was first introduced in December 2005.
