03/07/2012
We believe the potential for negative events in Europe will keep the euro on the defensive against the dollar and sterling, but the downside looks limited in the near term given investors in general are already broadly holding negative positions.
03/06/2012
it’s becoming the chosen vehicle for many investors who demand more than just financial growth from their money.
03/05/2012
Just when Europe might be congratulating itself on heading off imminent disaster, the threat of soaring crude prices looms over world economies again
03/05/2012
Investors seemed to react not to what the Fed President said, but rather to what he didn’t say. However, the sell-off was short-lived and today silver has been clawing its way back.
03/02/2012
HMRC pushes back
Following breaches in the Banking Code of Practice on Taxation, retrospective tax legislation is to be introduced.
02/27/2012
The growth figures may be insipid, the headlines may seem dour...
There are some positive dots that we can join together when looking at the UK economy, which when viewed as a connected string, is beginning to show a slightly more creditable and credible pattern.
02/23/2012
10 Thinkers That Executives Actually Listen To
These guys all made the "Top 50 Business Thinkers" list, put out annually by The Thinkers50 and facilitated by consultancy Crainer Dearlove.
02/23/2012
Signs of opportunity among the wreckage of European equities - Coutts
Although we remain cautious regarding exposure to European equities in general, selective opportunities may be emerging, as long as global central banks maintain the easy- money stance that is helping to fuel appetite for risk.
02/23/2012
Kleinwort Benson's new CIO says "animal spirits" at play in the markets
Crisis, what crisis?
02/23/2012
Paying the piper….
HM Revenue & Customs have now started to issue the £100 penalty notices to those people in self-assessment that did not submit their return by the deadline of 2 February 2012.
02/20/2012
Learning a lesson from the Americans
Following my comments about the missing financial infrastructure in the UK, I was recently comparing the US banking and financial structures with our own.
02/17/2012
Looking beyond the Greek tragedy
Central banks continue to ease policy and risk appetite amongst investors has increased. In the very near term however we remain somewhat wary that markets have rallied too strongly and that further profit taking and lower markets are quite possible.
02/15/2012
More pension tax changes to come?
As we predicted in our last Weekly Tax Brief, higher rate tax relief for pension contributions is once again in the firing line.
02/13/2012
I am indebted to Chris Charlton from the foreign exchange specialists, Centa Asset Management in Frankfurt who regularly produces fascinating views and opinions on the varying strengths of the differing currencies.
02/13/2012
Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.
02/11/2012
Berkshire Hathaway chairman and famous investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a "valueless asset".
02/11/2012
“Beware of big round numbers,” says the latest advice from the Local Government Association to Britain’s city councils presentation of their annual budgets.
02/11/2012
Psychologists say 'emotional intelligence' can help manage our thinking and improve our behaviour at work and in our personal lives. But what is it, how do you test it … and can it get better?
02/09/2012
Don’t shoot the goose
No reasonable person contests the idea that we should all pay our proper dues. Nevertheless, in a week when it has emerged that HMRC wrote off £10.9 billion last year (with the Treasury expressing ‘some surprise’ according to the Public
02/06/2012
Is the demise of Swiss private banking gathering pace?
Beyond talk at the time from a few consultants that difficulties at the banks would herald in a period of consolidation in Swiss banking, not much thought was given to the wider implications of what was going on at Sarasin and Vontobel.