COVID II the sequel – as scary as the original? The pleasures, and then increasing discomfort, of the UK’s unusually broiling August weather offered a welcome distraction from the seemingly never ending COVID news flow of gloominess. As the heatwave came to an end...

Living with COVID- settling into an interim ‘new normal’ Compared to the rest of 2020, July proved almost uneventful as global capital markets consolidated strong gains made during the previous quarter, with only emerging market equities and gold delivering notable...

PPE = Politics, Pressure and Economics In this delicate economic and financial environment, the world of politics can have a big impact on capital markets. Last week, we saw both heads of that political beast, with news stories first buoying and then bruising market...

Fast and freewheeling – markets move as economies slow As they have for most of the year, pandemic developments dominated the economic news flow last week. Though restrictions continue to ease here and in Europe, the virus is now spreading at a quickening pace in the...

H1 2020 offers meaningful lessons So we begin the second half of 2020, leaving behind us two of the most extraordinary calendar quarters in history. But the difference in experience from an investment perspective versus the general public and most of the economy could...

Support balances increasing strains – for how long? The consolidation in stock markets continues. After a brief sell-off at the beginning of last week, capital markets staged a recovery to leave things almost unchanged from a week ago. All in all, markets are now just...

A new normal After a wobble, capital markets have stabilised again. Global stock markets have not quite regained their previous highs, but seem to have found a level, trading sideways since last Tuesday. For onlookers though, risk asset prices probably look anything...

Stock markets suffer altitude sickness Reading the news seems much more complicated these days. Our friend and old colleague, Rob Martorana, has lived and worked in New York all his life. An excellent portfolio manager and great thinker about investments, Rob has...

Markets are enjoying an uncomfortably benign pandemic May 2020 will be remembered for many things. For most of the world, it was when lockdown measures began to ease and people filtered back out into the sunshine for the first time in weeks. It was also when the size...

May ends with optimism and promises of more stimulus The stock market recovery that started on 23 March – and was widely regarded as little more than a soonto-falter bear market rally – consolidated further over the last week of May. By now it is either the most...

Big trouble in big China Over the past week, it felt as if the new normal of enforced idleness paired with less stringent lockdown rules and summer weather would lead to a happier mood across Western Europe, including the UK. The same applied for investors, whose...

Stock markets rise as economies fall - is that sustainable?  The market recovery that began in late March has metamorphosed from a bear market rally into a full blown bull market, while week to week, investment market valuations have ridden the rollercoaster of...

US-China Cold war: Threat or blessing? Halfway through May and stock markets have continued to deviate markedly from the classic bear market pattern described in “The anatomy of a bear market” in The Cambridge Weekly of 30 March (see graph on next page). What looked...

Cambridge Investments Video Update - Question and Answer Session Thank you to everyone who has contacted us in response to the recent series of video updates. I am pleased to report that the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive and much...

Phase II kick-off – from staying home to staying safe Last week was a short week for most regions. Friday’s VE day holiday here in the UK was labelled “Victory in Europe” in 1945 and marked the huge victory against the forces of tyranny and isolating nationalism. We...

Trial and error After making a cameo appearance in the build-up to March’s COVID-19 market crash, last week saw oil return in dramatic fashion to reclaim the spotlight. This time the performance veered almost into parody, with the oil price falling into the negative...