Category: IC Insights
We entered 2024 on the back of a strong last quarter of performance. Inflation all around the world was on a downward trajectory and we felt that the ‘peak’ of interest rates had been reached. Despite the anticipation at the start of 2023 that the global economy would be fighting…
DB Wood Team
5th April, 2024
2023 closed with bond and equity markets moving notably higher on the back of falling inflation data and the prospect of interest rate cuts. This was something we had anticipated would happen earlier in 2023, though our thoughts played out, and the returns we expected all came in somewhat of…
Alex Chappell
1st March, 2024
The psychology of markets is not especially consistent. Investors get overly pessimistic when they are worried, and overly excited when newsflow is good. This creates periods where too much of the bad news is reflected in market prices and vice versa. After 18 months of bad inflation and interest rate…
Alex Chappell
2nd February, 2024
2022 was one of the most challenging years for investment returns in recent history. As so often when asset valuations fall significantly, there are some excellent opportunities created, and we spent much of the latter part of 2022 in particular, reshaping our portfolios for 2023. As a result, we felt…
The Planning Team
5th January, 2024
“How did you go bankrupt? Bill asked. “Two ways” Mike said, “gradually then suddenly”. That famous quote from Ernest Hemingway’s novel feels very applicable to the question “how is your investment forecast playing out?” We’ve been talking since the spring about a more positive investment environment for our portfolios. Our…
Alex Chappell
1st December, 2023
It’s around 12 months since the bond market hit its lows for 2022. Around the time of Liz Truss’s budget, we added significantly to an asset class that had sold off hard and relative to the last two decades, was providing a significant annual income stream. In time, we also…
Ashley Brooks
20th October, 2023
We approached Q3 with optimism. Not because we expected this quarter itself to be stellar, but because valuations on any medium to long term basis are as good as they have been at any time in the last 15 years. That said, markets need confidence, specifically with respect to inflation…
DB Wood Team
5th October, 2023
The ‘price’ of something often doesn’t reflect its true ‘value’. We say things like ‘I wouldn’t pay that price’, getting drawn into the numbers and not necessarily what it means to us. The price of something is merely the cost to buy or sell, whether that’s an investment portfolio or…
Ashley Brooks
1st September, 2023
Blog, IC Insights, Uncategorised
Someone asked me last week “what’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt across the last 5 years?” Well, that’s tough as a lot has happened, as covered in our recent blog ‘A Unique 5 Year Period draws to an end‘ . To be honest I thought it would be…
Ashley Brooks
4th August, 2023
Investors came into the second quarter feeling like the worst was behind us. Inflation was falling consistently across the globe, interest rates looked close to peaking, and so far, economies were showing no signs of a recession. In most regions that story has continued to play out. US inflation is…
Alex Chappell
6th July, 2023