Alongside the obvious contenders of online retail giants and pharmaceutical companies, there are plenty of industries who can expect to see opportunities for growth as the world adapts to the challenges of 2020. With digital transformation at the forefront of much of the conversation of growing industries, it can be expected that the industries and …
Introduction Is the end of November a time to celebrate? All the stock markets we cover in the Bulletin made significant gains in the month; the UK’s second national lockdown ends this week and, as we write, Christmas is a little over three weeks away. Or is the glass half-empty? We’re going to come out …
As we approach the first, and hopefully last, Christmas period to be directly affected by the pandemic, there are novel challenges faced by those in the retail sector. With the second lockdown prohibiting all non-essential retail until at least the 2nd of December, this will be a Christmas defined by online sales, more so than …
At the virtual Conservative Party Conference on 6th October, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestured towards a plan in the pipeline to introduce 95% Loan To Value mortgages in an attempt to reinvigorate home ownership and in his words, “help turn generation rent, into generation buy.” While the details of this plan remain unclear, the PM …
Introduction The end of October brought plenty of bad news for Western economies as scientists stood in front of graphs and talked of ‘inexorable rises’ and ‘exponential increases.’ Unsurprisingly, stock markets duly took note. We report on 12 major stock markets and only two, India and Hong Kong, were up in October, with all the …
This article discusses how financial advisers across the nation have adapted to continue to deliver a valuable service at a period of upheaval which hasn’t been seen since the Second World War. Covid-19 has completely changed the way financial planners deliver advice. At the drop of a hat, the industry had to embrace years’ worth …
Introduction September was a difficult month for world stock markets. It was one of those rare months when none of the markets we report on managed to gain any ground as fears of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a global sell-off in shares. It was also another month of bickering as tensions …
In December 2019, the Conservatives won an 80 seat majority in the General Election and three months later, new Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his first Budget. But by then there was a large cloud on the horizon – the outbreak of Covid-19. The Chancellor used his Budget speech in March to present a raft of …
Introduction Today (23rd September) marks exactly six months since the UK went into lockdown. On Monday, 23rd March we started social distancing, millions of people were furloughed and, for millions more, working from home became the ‘new normal’. Six months on and the UK is gradually getting back to work. Or is it? We started …
The effects of the so-called ‘Stamp Duty Holiday’ have dominated the recent property news. According to Rightmove, recent weeks have seen the highest number of agreed house sales in a single month since it started tracking them a decade ago. However, there has been some slightly less positive news that will affect many first-time buyers …
