Another COVID-blighted year has passed. Yet, for all the turmoil, 2021 was a great one for markets.
Déjà vu in the UK. With COVID cases mounting once again and restrictions piling up, everyone is wondering whether Christmas will be cancelled once again.
A just barely good enough COP (for now).
The eyes of the world are watching COP26 for bold action on climate change. Meanwhile, the UK chancellor envisages a ‘new age of optimism’.
Despite some unanticipated giveaways, fiscal policy is tightening dramatically. Political confusion and economic uncertainty further cloud the outlook.
After a stunning second quarter for economic growth and corporate profits as the world started opening back up again, investor optimism has been tempered. Growth is slowing down in China, the first major economy to regain its lost output, and the global economic recovery seems to be coming off the boil too. Still, we think going from great to merely good will still be good enough.
Investor optimism spread over the second quarter as economies around the world continued to reopen and many aspects of our lives returned to normal. Successful vaccination programmes and stimulus measures across the developed world improved the global outlook.
Fund manager David Harrison explains how the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which began life as an aspirational target for governments around the world, transitioned to an unofficial framework for ESG investing. But can they really make a difference?
Just a few short years ago, only those in the know were talking about sustainable investing. Today it seems to be everywhere. All that’s missing is a global standard for measuring a company’s ESG performance, says David Harrison, manager of the Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability Fund.
