MoneyWeek

At the start of 2021 we had some clear ideas on what we expected from the economy and markets. With pent-up demand real –consumers had pockets jammed with newly minted cash and a near-desperate urge to get out and spend – GDP would recover fast. We e

“Surprise, surprise!”, says Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote. Last month the Bank of England failed to raise interest rates despite market bets that it would. This month it has pulled the reverse trick, becoming the first big central bank to raise the

Global stockmarkets fell at the start of this week as investors grew increasingly fearful about the impact of the Omicron variant. Stocks had sold off at the end of November after news of the new variant broke, but then recovered this month on hopes

Commodity markets have soared this year, but investors had to choose their bets carefully to profit. The S&P GSCI index of 24 major raw materials, a key benchmark, has climbed by 30% since the start of the year. Reopening economies and the green tran

Senator sinks spending plans: Joe Manchin (pictured), the Democratic senator for West Virginia, “effectively killed” Joe Biden’s $2trn Build Back Better spending bill in its current form when he told Fox News on Sunday he could not vote for it, say A

Coming so soon after the “humiliating defeat” in the North Shropshire by-election, David Frost’s departure is a “body blow” to Boris Johnson and the “latest sign that his position may come under serious threat in the New Year”, says Henry Hill in The

It’s been a grim year. Following a decade of relative political freedom, the army seized power in a coup on 1 February, after the election commission rejected their unfounded claims of voter fraud in the November 2020 general election. Since then, an

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have become increasingly popular. Instead of trying to beat the market like their actively managed counterparts, these track an index, commodity or asset. However there is one corner of this fast-growing market that hasn’

Economic health is determined by an array of statistics, says Jerry Useem. But a crucial element is unseen: interpersonal trust. “Without it, Adam Smith’s invisible hand stays in its pocket.” Every transaction requires trust to be finalised, from bro

The left’s present-day obsession with social and economic inequalities was invented in 2011 by David Graeber, an anthropologist and anarchist activist who died towards the end of last year. In the wake of the credit crunch and financial crisis, a sma

Plenty of pundits insist that stockmarkets are overvalued and heading for a crash. Setbacks or sudden shocks, as in early 2020, are always possible, but investors have learned to ride these out. What would be much more worrying is a sustained bear ma

John Stepek: What surprised you most and what surprised you least in what’s been a very weird year? Simon Edelsten: I totally agree it’s been “weird”. The main thing that everyone had feared would happen – inflation – happened. But according to the

Cyber-attackers have small businesses in their sights. The Federation of Small Businesses says its members are the target of seven million cyberattacks every year. The average cost of an incident for a small business is £8,460, but many prove even mo

A substantial proportion of overall corporate growth now occurs in unlisted companies. This trend is intensifying because of the tendency of growing private companies to stay private for longer before listing. However, there are ways for investors to

While the US and UK markets rose steadily in 2021, several sectors suffered great volatility, leading to some painful reversals for this column. But the wins outnumbered the losses, with the current profits on my ongoing positions more than offsettin

“Skiing and snowboarding are such peaceful, quiet activities – just the crunch of the snow, the whistle of the wind and the intermittent blood-curdling scream when someone irreparably tears their knee ligaments,” says Craig Jamieson for TopGear. At l

Skiing in Europe this winter is still just about possible, despite France’s ban on British tourists entering the country. But what with the costs and the hassle of making sure you have taken the right coronavirus tests and downloaded the right apps,

The Moat, Benenden, Cranbrook, Kent. A Grade II-listed property in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounded by landscaped gardens with a moat. It has open fireplaces, including a brick inglenook fireplace with a wood-burning stove. 8 beds, 4

Thanks to near-zero interest rates, technological optimism and a bottomless pit of venture capital and private equity money, there’s been a huge boom in “unicorns” – technology companies valued at $1bn or more. No business has epitomised this more th

1 In April 2021, a record-breaking 2.7% of the American workforce quit their jobs in a single month, signalling an ongoing trend in the Western workplace. How has this phenomenon been described? a) The Great Resignation b) The Covid Quit c) The Lockd

Having your product be responsible for the demise of a popular fictional character is a rather unfortunate mishap, as glorified exercise bike manufacturer Peloton has just found out. The opening episode of And Just Like That… , the high-profile reboo

If the stockmarket were an army, it would be knee-deep in mud… overextended… and far from its supply lines. And now, its scouts are staggering back to camp, wounded and hungry. Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation exchange-traded fund is down 40% from its pe