A recent report in The Times newspaper explores the kind of alternative investments that multi-asset fund managers have recently been taking exposure to in an attempt to beat the market. The kind of ‘esoteric’ investments being made reportedly include plays on businesses as diverse as aircraft leasing, ‘no win no fee’ legal cases and, perhaps somewhat worryingly against the backdrop of recent history, mortgage-backed securities.
Some good news today for those investing online and with an eye on exciting IPOs coming up in 2019. Ride-hailing app Lyft has filed the key documents which announce its intention to float publically in a multi-billion IPO in spring next year. 2019 IPOs have been anticipated for both Lyft and its bigger rival Uber and it was thought that the latter would be first to market. However, Lyft has now pulled ahead.
For the first time in over 10 years the yield curve on Fed-issued 3 and 5-year Treasuries has inverted. The difference in yield between the longer term and short term Treasuries dropped below zero on Monday, which means no financial incentive to take on the increased of longer term debt compared to shorter term debt.
On Thursday of last week, Bank of England governor Mark Carney outlined the potential economic apocalypse that could ravage the UK in the event of the worst-case no deal Brexit scenario. The worst-case scenario described, which the UK’s central bank has defended as a low-probability but possible outcome, has ruffled feathers and led to accusations of fearmongering. It would involve the UK’s GDP dropping by 10% compared to pre-Brexit forecasts, which would be expected to result in a recession of a level unseen on these shores since the 1930s almost a century ago.
The decade long post-international financial crisis has been led by tech stocks and particularly their U.S.-based FAANG monarchy of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (Alphabet). However, they finally appear to have come a cropper. The first four have shed over 23% since their 2018 highs, much of it over the past few weeks. Alphabet has fared slightly, but only slightly, better and is down some 18%. But why are they now plunging?
The current era of investing, at least when it comes to the big boys such as asset managers, is one defined by algorithms, big data and automation. However, institutional investors have also realised that algorithms and big data approaches to taking investment decisions still have some weaknesses.
Yesterday we looked at the potential bargain that unloved UK equities may currently represent for those investing online into their ISAs and SIPPs. However, there is one other region that has been in the doldrums this year and many experts also now believe represent good value for canny investors willing to spread their net in the hunt for long term turns – Asia Pacific without Japan.
If you’re investing online into a stocks and shares ISA or SIPP, there’s a good chance you’ve been selling off your exposure to the UK faster than that guy in the office has been dumping his hoard of bitcoin and ether for whatever he can get with it. Or at the very least your more recent allocations have been diversifying out of UK equities.
95% of the international industry around start-up companies and VC investment in them was once concentrated in the USA. Today the USA is still a major hub of start-up and VC activity but its share of the global market has dropped to just over 50%. Is that simply an inevitable, natural and positive trend that reflects global economic development? Or has the USA started to go stale as a hotbed for entrepreneurial spirit? Has corporate America lost sight of the fact it was the ‘American Dream’ philosophy and environment that allowed its mega-corporations to be nurtured and grow to the point they straddle the global economy?
While directly investing online in the price of oil is more the preserve of short term traders than long term investors, the price of oil strongly influences financial markets and any sector in which oil is an overhead. And that, to a greater or lesser degree, is most sectors that the companies you hold shares in, either directly or through funds.
