The spectre of higher inflation and rising interest rates sent a shudder through global markets in February. It could still cause some sleepless nights over the rest of the year, but we don’t see anything too alarming on the horizon.
Passing on wealth has never cost the UK so much. Inheritance tax (IHT) receipts are surging and reached a record £4.9 billion last year. With property prices rising and IHT allowances frozen until 2021, that trend is likely to continue.
In a post-Brexit world, Britain may have to become less reliant on its financial services sector and the South East.
Interest rates and bond yields headed to the floor in the wake of the global financial crisis and have more or less stayed there since. In this “new normal”, generating a sufficient income may require new ways of thinking.
Investor sentiment had been extremely optimistic in recent months and markets overbought, but that is no longer the case.
The UK’s multinational companies got a big bang out of Brexit, but it was over quickly. Since then there’s been no meaningful difference in performance with their smaller and more UK-focused peers, despite the stream of negative press around Brexit negotiations.
Whether you’re chanting it from a tent in Glastonbury or howling it at Radio 4 in despair, the name Jeremy Corbyn tends to incite some rather impassioned reactions.
With many young people struggling to buy their first home and the older generation living longer and worrying about the cost of care, could the answer be multi-generational households? A growing number of people seem to think so.
Some experts believe sugar now poses as big a threat to public health as cigarettes. With obesity costing the NHS billions of pounds every year, can investors force food manufacturers to start being more responsible in their use of this bitter sweet ingredient? Rathbone Greenbank is playing its part in lobbying for change.
