Stock Take It’s often said that economic figures and stock market performance don’t always line up. Last week, the UK provided a good example of this. Newly released figures revealed that the economy shrank by 0.3% between October and December 2023. This followed a smaller contraction in the previous quarter, meaning the UK has entered…

Stock Take The S&P 500, a US stock index, broke the 5,000 mark for the first time on Thursday last week. As has been the case for some time, US technology stocks continued to drive the growth. Chipmaker NVIDIA and Facebook owner Meta have contributed notably this year, as each company’s value has already increased…

Stock Take Last week saw a familiar pattern for those that have been following markets over the last year. Interest rates remained high, and large technology companies increased in value. Last week it was the turn of Meta and Amazon to make the news. Meta, in particular, received a lot of attention after it reported…

Stock Take The S&P 500 reached a record high last week, as the boom in valuations for large technology companies continued. This boom has occurred despite a number of uncertainties facing markets this year. These include the 2024 presidential election, which will almost certainly be a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. While this…

Stock Take  Those hoping inflation figures were now firmly travelling down towards their 2% target were given a rude awakening last week, as UK figures revealed a small increase in December. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), inflation in the UK increased slightly between November and December, up from 3.9% to 4.0%. Although…

Stock Take  Today marks 15 years since the so-called ‘Miracle on the Hudson’, where pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger successfully emergency landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. A decade and a half later, and investors are hoping for another soft landing – though this time they’re looking to Central Banks to chart the…

Stock Take After ending 2023 with a bang, global stock markets started 2024 with a negative week. Markets ended 2023 strongly as confidence grew that interest rates had, more or less, peaked. The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve, and the European Central Bank had all stopped increasing rates over the second half of…

Stock Take  Markets were on central bank watch last week, as policymakers in the US, UK and Europe met to make their final interest rate decisions of the year. First up was the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, which left rates unchanged; but it was the shift in tone from Chair Jerome Powell that got…

Stock Take  With the Christmas break rapidly approaching, UK investors will be hoping for an early present from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee when they meet later this week. It’s widely expected to keep interest at the current rate of 5.25%. Certainly, this view would have been reinforced last week, when the Bank’s…

Stock Take Has the season to be jolly come a bit too early? Global markets ended November in an upbeat mood. The MSCI World index registered its best month in three years, climbing nearly 9%. A similar return for the S&P 500 index represented its seventh best single month of returns in the past 100…