Last Updated: September 30, 2025

For those interested in stats, another record is about to be challenged: the longest-running period without a 5% fall for the S&P 500.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Rathbones’ Asset Allocation Strategist, Ed Smith, reflects on one year since the outcome of the Brexit referendum and assesses the impact of the decision to leave the European Union on the UK economy.  

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

The UK’s quixotic attitude to immigration has claimed another victim, a minister to go with scores of unfairly treated British citizens from the commonwealth. Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigned this morning for misleading the House by saying that her department had no deportation targets. The proof to refute Ms Rudd was summoned in less than a day.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

The environmental damage that plastic waste causes has become a global problem. Steps to address the issue are now being taken worldwide, with a reduction in non-biodegradable plastics a key goal. But how close is science to offering us viable solutions? 

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

UK stocks have underperformed other major developed markets so far in 2018, extending a pattern that has been in place since the June 2016 vote to leave the EU. A longer-term analysis also suggests Brexit isn’t the only thing weighing on UK companies, so why should investors be interested in UK equities now? We think investors are pricing in a fairly negative Brexit scenario, and see UK shares as offering fundamental value and opportunity in differing economic outlooks. 

• Economy
• Politics

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Until recently, protectionism had gone quiet in the press. But Donald Trump has never stopped playing the pugnacious attack dog of the anti-trade movement. 

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

It’s been a hot and sleepy summer punctuated by a few small scares, notes chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth. With a bit of luck, the trade-related worries should fade away over the rest of the year.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Trade threats and tech troubles have made investors nervous, but economies around the world remain healthy and relatively vibrant. Our chief investment officer, Julian Chillingworth, says markets are likely to remain rocky, but that should provide opportunities

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

The government has got itself in another tangle over Brexit. Meanwhile, chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth investigates the strange dichotomy that’s driving an ascendant dollar.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? When the European Central Bank (ECB) finally bit the bullet and called time on its asset purchase programme last week, its hawkish announcement passed almost unheard by the markets. The euro did fall 1% against the dollar, presumably on concerns that the eurozone economy might still need the life support. But there was a negligible decline in bund yields, while most major European equity markets rallied in response to the announcement.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

The Italian political crisis turned out to be a storm in an espresso cup. Damaging policies dreamed up by the right-wing/left-wing coalition sent Italian debt yields upward at a gallop. Then the President vetoed prospective Cabinet members and yields really took off. The two-year government bond got as high as 2.70% last week; it was -0.25% just three weeks ago. This morning, that had calmed right down to about 0.72%.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

"They are to vote today on a plan to re-open the government, but Democrat Senate leader Chuck Schumer says there's no deal yet. But I believe investors shouldn’t get too panicked. It's important to remember that financial markets barely blinked at the last two shutdowns in 1995/96 and 2013.