Current Observations: On the positive side of the ledger: Economic growth is still strong. Household & bank balance sheets are strong. Corporate balance sheets are fairly strong. Fiscal policy is still fairly expansionary. Green capex momentum is strong. Equities are fairly valued. On the negative side: Inflation is persistent. Central banks are tightening. Governments are

I was trawling around London soliciting views mostly from the main beneficiaries of the Chancellor’s tax cuts announced 23 September. How? Why? What? The problem with the budget is not that it doesn’t make sense, we can make anything sensible given enough experts’ opinions. The problem was marketing, communications, governance, those sorts of inconveniences. A

ESG investing has been an excellent growth opportunity for the investment industry to demonstrate innovation and introduce new products and services. For investors seeking to obtain both purpose and returns, the experience has been mixed. I believe that the human species seeks to make things better, that we are inherently good, even if our efforts

June 15, 2022. The ECB called a special meeting to discuss surging bond yields of peripheral member states. With the inflation problem in Europe, you would have thought the ECB would have welcomed higher rates. Not so. The ECB has a very difficult task. It needs to maintain financial and economic stability, keeping a lid

I’ve been attending ESG conferences these last couple of months, speaking, a bit tentatively, at some of them. I’ve been thinking a lot about ESG and don’t really know what to make of it. It seems to try to capture many things in many ways and in doing so makes things complicated and hard to