Insights for professional partners

What to do when markets and data seem full of conflicting messages

Rathbones’ Edward Smith, co-chief investment officer, and Jing Hu, senior asset allocation analyst, give an update on some of the key themes shaping the investment outlook including the banking sector, the outlook for inflation and interest rates as well as a review of China.

We’ve certainly had a difficult start to the year, but what is the investment outlook as we look forward to sunnier days ahead? Our latest Investment Insights considers some of the key themes – such as expectations versus reality for US company profits and the search for inflation protection. 

A year of rapid-fire interest rate hikes by central banks is yet to be fully felt by the wider economy. Rathbones’ co-chief investment officer Ed Smith explains why that makes us cautious.

Ructions in the banking sector don’t appear to be the first tremors of a systemic financial crisis, but rather a delayed, jolting reaction to the steepest rate increases in 40 years

Hear from our co-chief investment officer, Edward Smith and head of client development, Ian Dembinski in our quarterly Investment Insights webinar which highlights some of the key themes that are set to shape the investment landscape in 2023.

Our latest Investment Insights looks to demystify some misconceptions about growth and value investing, with important implications given the risks of recession this year. We also highlight the signs we will be looking for to know when it's time to turn more positive.

In these videos Rathbones’ co-chief investment officer Ed Smith gives a review of 2022 and discusses our outlook for 2023.

We can see a path to a new bull market in the second half of 2023, but we’re not there yet.

In the midst of what continues to be a turbulent year for investors, our lead article explores the varied challenges facing some of the world’s major economies, and the likelihood of different inflation and recession scenarios coming to fruition.

Our latest Insights highlights why we still see US or global recession as unlikely over the next 12 months, despite what you might be reading in the headlines of the financial press. In any case, no two downturns are the same (each is unhappy in its own way), and a crucial point that often goes missing in the current debate is that it’s still too early to be clear about what kind this one will be, and therefore how to properly defend portfolios against it.

In the midst an unfolding humanitarian crisis, our thoughts are first and foremost with the people of Ukraine. But we also have a duty to our clients to monitor the investment impact of the war, and we set out some of the investment implications of these challenging times in our latest Investment Insights publication.

It’s been a difficult start to the new year for investors, with the global equity benchmark falling into so-called ‘correction’ territory. We can't say for sure when the pain will end, but for the reasons set out in this update, we are confident the correction will be short-lived.