Tom Stevenson



Profile:
Full name: Tom Stevenson

Area of interest: Finance: Investment

Journals/Organisation: The Daily Telegraph

Email: [mailto:tom.stevenson@telegraph.co.uk tom.stevenson@telegraph.co.uk]

Personal website: https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/news-insights/expert-opinions/tom-stevenson/tom_stevenson.page

Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/tom-stevenson/

Blog: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/tom-stevenson

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Networks: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/tom-stevenson/19/791/127



Biography:
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Education: Durham University; Clark University

Career: Written about investment since the early 90's - Investors Chronicle: Companies Editor; The Independent: City Editor. Also edited 'Investing for Growth', an investment newsletter and launched the investment email service Hemscott Analyst

Current position/role: Columnist and investment director and head of corporate and investment communications at Fidelity International


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The Daily Telegraph:
Column name: Investment Column

Remit/Info: "Takes the pulse of the big issues and themes driving the world’s investment markets, from shares to commodities, behavioural finance to asset allocation"

Section: City

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:tom.stevenson@telegraph.co.uk tom.stevenson@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: Telegraph.co

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Tuesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 900/950 words



Articles: 2016

 * Italian referendum result could shake the rest of Europe into a worryingly volatile 2017 - 4th December
 * After fiscal fireworks in the United States, expect a damp squib in this week's Autumn Statement - Philip Hammond and Donald Trump don’t have a lot in common, I suspect. One thing they do share, however, is a realisation that government has a role to play in stimulating the economy - 20th November
 * A divided US Government could benefit investors - What is clear today is quite how much investors fear a Trump victory on Tuesday – the recent run of consecutive daily losses for the S&P 500 is a statistical outlier - 6th November
 * Winners or losers on the end of Autumn's fiscal boost - 9th October
 * Opec quota deal not guaranteed to force up the oil price - 2nd October
 * Four tips to handle any crisis, financial or otherwise - The nature of market crises, just like floods and epidemics, is that when they strike we are least likely to be calm and rational - 24th September
 * What America will do after the election - whoever wins - 18th September
 * Dubai is buzzing but oil’s decline tempers the mood - 11th September 2016
 * Market booms can persist for much longer than expected  - I’ve been puzzling about this mismatch between the headlines and market sentiment and come to a surprising conclusion. Despite the uncertainty, despite the slowing company earnings, I think markets – both equities and bonds – are likely to go even higher. - 4th September
 * Can the recovery of emerging markets last? - 14th August
 * All eyes are on Hammond as Bank runs low on options - 7th August
 * Something is stirring up stock markets, and it’s not Brexit - 31st July
 * The helicopters fly on for now, but one day they will crash - 24th July
 * Political storms are making no waves on the markets - 17th July
 * Despite the lock-ins, property funds are still safe investments - 9th July
 * A gilt-edged future hangs on the event of June 23 - 11th June
 * Tata’s pull-out shows how brutal the world of steel can be - 3rd April
 * After a bumpy quarter, the EU vote promises yet more volatility - 27th March
 * Passive investors need to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in - 6th March
 * new year that has already upset conventional wisdom'' - The market is responding to a fall in the oil price and the anticpation of changes in the interest rate - 14th February
 * Buy when the market’s fallen 20pc? First do some checks - A 20pc slide in share prices could be a reliably good buy signal if valuations are reasonable - 31st January



Articles: 2015

 * Online revolution could put paid to the shopping scrum - Black Friday looks like being the latest victim of the disruptive power of the internet - 29th November
 * Property wobble, but I’m not convinced the party’s ending - The UK’s housing market is dominated, but not defined, by the capital - 25th October
 * Be adept at handling profit alerts - they'll be more frequent - Burberry and Walmart both warned on profits this week. - 18th October
 * When disaster strikes, stock diversification pays off - There were good reasons not to invest in VW and other carmakers - 27th September
 * This bull market will end with a bang, but not just yet - At some point, sky-high valuations in healthcare and technology will look excessive but we’re far from there - 9th August
 * Commodities rout brings global winners and losers - The sell-off in commodities is terrible news for emerging market countries which depend on high resource prices - 2nd August
 * Commercial property rush looks to have staying power - If property is a bubble, it could carry on inflating for a good while yet - 26th June
 * India is on course to complete a remarkable turnaround - India could achieve growth of up to 8pc a year for the next decade, amazing for an economy which already accounts for 3pc of global GDP - 8th March
 * Face facts: there's money in sin - The economics of sin are strong - just look at the tobacco industry - 15th February
 * The hidden risks of adopting a cosy approach to investment - The headlines may be full of existential angst about the future of the eurozone, but Germany’s DAX index has never been higher and the FTSE 100 is within a whisker of finally smashing through its 15-year-old glass ceiling - 9th February
 * Super Mario's immaculate timing will help markets rally - The launch of quantitative easing in the eurozone provides opportunities for investors - 25th January



Articles: 2014

 * Why gloomy prophecies for bonds look to be wrong again - That 30-year bond bull market is certainly very long in the tooth. But there’s no more reason to expect it to expire messily this year than there was 12 months ago - 14th December
 * Why oil importing economies could become the new BRICS  - The collapse in the oil price has done emerging market investors a big favour - 16th November
 * If you’re drinking to an IPO, be prepared for a hangover - October’s market wobble led to a big uptick in the number of companies erring on the side of caution by postponing planned flotations - some have questioned whether the IPO boom has run its course - 9th November
 * Why investors should give Japan the benefit of the doubt - The fact that global markets only managed 24 hours or so off the QE drip shows how far from a return to normality we really are - 2nd November
 * This is a bad time to be a bull in the China shop - The Chinese property market is behind slowing growth in the world's second-biggest economy - 25th October
 * Don't bank on Brazil voting for growth over lower prices - The risks look greater than the potential rewards in Brazil as country's rapid rise wanes - 5th October
 * Investors have good reason to back India’s Modi miracle - India's stock market remains red hot despite its tepid economic policies - 28th September
 * Bull market’s recent slide is a healthy pause for breath - Is the slide in global markets in recent weeks a healthy consolidation of the past five years’ gains or the start of something more alarming - 10th August
 * Are problems emerging for 2014’s star performers? - The emerging markets may have perfomed better than expected, but can they compete when the US economy is firing on all cylinders - 3rd August
 * How investors should react to a nervous bond market - High-yield bonds can signal a shift towards risk aversion and the flight of traditional investors is cause for concern - 27th July
 * Crunch time for companies as investors expect returns - It has been easy over the past five years of risk-on, risk-off investing to forget that the primary driver of stock markets in the long run is company performance - 13th July
 * Dividend yield is better guide than the FTSE 100 at 7,000 - Anchoring onto round numbers for the FTSE or Dow is dangerous, focus instead on a tangible valuation measure like dividend yield that’s hard to fudge - 6th July
 * History doesn’t always repeat itself, sometimes it rhymes - History suggests we shouldn’t fear the Fed as much as we are - 29th June
 * Irrational? Yes, but there’s mileage yet in Europe’s party - Investors are pushing markets to new highs in the face of worrying evidence that all is not well - 8th June
 * There is no such thing as a typical emerging market - The countries captured under the 'emerging market' catch-all have performed very differently since Ben Bernanke dropped his taper bombshell - 24th May 2014
 * Investor nervousness raises questions over the recovery - Rumours of a great rotation out of bonds into equities have been exaggerated - 18th May
 * There’s a lot more air to come out of the tech bubble - If we’re really back to weighing not counting, then I suspect this process has further to go - 13th April
 * Will 2014 repeat the dotcom crash? - Investment expert Tom Stevenson worked with legend Jim Slater during the dotcom boom when you could 'sell a few pound coins for a tenner' - 11th April
 * Forget bull market fears, it's just a recovery building steam - Corporate confidence points more to firms preparing to invest than a fading bull market - 6th April
 * Unintended consequences of QE led to pensions reform - The shock waves from the Chancellor's "Budget for Savers" are likely to reach well beyond the insurance sector - 23rd March
 * A long view, a clear head and keep listening to the noises off - The key is to know when the market is telling us something useful and when it is just a distraction - 15th March
 * Russia's roulette: why investors are rolling with the punches - With healthy earnings growth in the pipeline, cash-rich corporates eyeing up more takeovers and buybacks and sentiment still far from extended, it will take a significant deterioration in Ukraine to really unsettle markets - 9th March
 * In this dotcom frenzy, calm investors will win in the end - Engaging the brain will quite literally pay dividends when 'old economy' fundamentals will once again matter more - 2nd March
 * Why emerging market investors should avoid bandwagons - In more peaceful times, investors are modestly rewarded for taking emerging market risk, but to benefit fully they need a contrarian approach and to avoid jumping on bandwagons - 17th February
 * Twitter has reminded me why I don’t like tech stocks - The market environment feels like the 1990s revisited – enjoy it while it lasts - 9th February
 * Buy into growth as boardroom confidence rises - The market environment feels like the 1990s revisited – enjoy it while it lasts - 2nd February
 * Shanghai is my contrarian call for 2014 - China's slowdown is a positive, a sign of President Xi Jinping’s seriousness about steering the country towards a better balanced economy - 12th January
 * A memorial to our industrial past rather thank UK plc today - Although the FTSE 100 has become shorthand for the ups and downs of the London market, it arguably doesn’t even do that very well - 5th January



Articles: 2013

 * It’s tricky picking the best index to ensure the best returns - The past two years have seen a striking divergence in performance between the largest companies and the rest and big has been anything but beautiful - 23rd December
 * Why the 'Great Rotation’ from bonds to equities never took off - What has become clear this year and will continue to be so in 2014 is that the choice between stocks and bonds is not an either-or decision - 8th December
 * After a decade of false dawns, Japan is heading for inflation - With a second straight month of rising industrial output, it is starting to suggest that Japan might actually be on track to hit its target of 2pc inflation - 1st December
 * Get ready for the next transformation of China and Japan - Reinvention has propelled China and Japan's growth over the last thirty years - 25th November
 * How to protect yourself from 'prediction addiction' - "Prediction addiction" is hard-wired into our brains. The most successful investors resist it - 18th November
 * Interest rates are going to rise - it is better to prepare now - For many investors a rising rate environment will be a novel experience. Yields have broadly speaking been falling for 30 years now - 17th November
 * Hold tight for another ride on the 'float mania’ roller-coaster - Anyone who bought into Twitter shares at close to $50, or nearly twice the $26 issue price, has taken a great deal on trust - 10th November
 * Why a bull market could come charging back in 2018 - If Kerry Balenthiran is to be believed, the world could enter a major bull market that will run until 2035 - 3rd November
 * It is too early to start digging back into the mining sector - The mining sector is going through a painful transition and the golden age of rapidly growing demand is over - 27th October
 * Invest in the economic recovery by backing UK blue-chips - Investment opportunities are often closer to home than you may think - 20th October
 * Golden age of emerging markets won’t be back any time soon - It’s been a great year for the West and a dismal one for investors in developing countries - 13th October
 * Investors are right to shrug off bad news from America - The looming debt ceiling deadline on October 17 has left markets frozen in the headlights - 6th October
 * Shale may fail in Sussex, but it will give America the edge - Where I live, near Balcombe in West Sussex, most people’s attitude to the shale revolution boils down to two words on a bumper sticker – Frack Off - 28th September
 * Market's 'Long Good Buy' is hitting a 'growth phase’ - Leaving aside last week’s Bernanke Bounce, emerging markets have fallen so far out of favour that it’s now de rigeur to label Goldman Sachs’s championing of the BRICs as nothing more than glib marketing - 22nd September
 * The next big test for Japan is what it will do about inflation - For years, the challenge when talking about investing in Japan was to stop people’s eyes glazing over. Today, everyone wants to know where next for Tokyo - 15th September
 * Take forecasts with a pinch of salt...or move to Omaha - Two news stories this week gave me cause to reflect on the wisdom of Warren Buffett's decision to base himself in Omaha, Nebraska, far from the chatter of Wall Street - 8th September
 * Emerging markets may struggle but real value remains - Emerging markets used to be turbo-charged versions of their developed world counterparts - 1st September
 * Investing is simple – if you can overcome your instincts - The longer I have studied investment markets, the more I have realised that investing is simple, but not easy - 11th August
 * Don’t forget your raincoat as the sun may not always shine - The weather is turning out to be a pretty good metaphor for both the UK’s economy and its stock market this year. Occasional squally storms and the odd cloudy day but generally speaking, it’s the best summer for quite some time - 4th August
 * Nanny doesn't always know best when it comes to Aim - In eight days' time, the Government will reverse one of its more pointless nanny-knows-best interventions by allowing investors to hold shares listed on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in an Isa - 28th July
 * Detroits honest self renewal is an-example for Japan - 21st July
 * Don't write off China even though growth is slowing - Has an investment story ever suffered such a dramatic fall from grace? - 14th July
 * Remember the dotcom crash? The sequel could be ahead - If you wait around long enough even the most discredited investment themes will come around again - 7th July
 * Time to move on from commodities to global stock picking - Morgan Stanley this week joined a growing list of big investment banks beating a partial retreat from commodities trading - 23rd June
 * A lesson from the Fed about the pitfalls of easy money - Ben Bernanke looks like a man who chooses his words carefully - 15th June
 * The fact is markets had gone up too far and too fast - A number of different factors have combined to create the impression of a co-ordinated slide, but the causes of the various market wobbles are subtly different - 9th June
 * As the FTSE flirts with a 13-year high, I'm optimistic - but cautiously so - Intuitively you would think it is easier to bang the drum for investing when the market is testing new highs - 19th May
 * After a decade of decline, it’s time for the dollar to have its day - Equity investors’ eyes are fixed on the currency markets this week as, for the first time in four years, it has taken more than 100 yen to buy a US dollar - 12th May
 * Japan is turning but the market remains inscrutable - The worst feeling for an investor is losing money. Running a close second is seeing someone else making the money that could have been yours if only… well, if only - 5th May
 * Lateral thinking is way to strike gold in shale revolution - During the California gold-rush the more predictable fortunes weren’t made by those panning for the metal itself but by those selling picks and shovels to prospectors and, in the famous case of a manufacturer of denim jeans, the durable clothes they wore while they worked - 28th April
 * Health care offers remedy to IMF’s gloomy diagnosis - The International Monetary Fund’s latest downgrade to its global growth forecasts confirms the anecdotal evidence from the US, China and Europe that recovery in the developed world is likely to be a long, drawn-out affair with periodic setbacks - 21st April
 * DIY investors shouldn’t lose faith in emerging markets yet - Looking at where our customers invested their money during the recently-ended ISA season, I was struck by a difference between the asset allocation of do-it-yourself investors and those who invest their money through a financial adviser - 14th April
 * Bonds are no longer a safe haven when investing your pension - A few weeks ago in this newspaper’s Money section, my colleague Ian Cowie wrote an interesting piece describing his decision to move his pension completely out of bonds - 30th March
 * It’s ISA decision time, and the US recovery is worth backing - Over the next two weeks, many of us will make our once-a-year investment in an ISA or SIPP. Between now and the end of the tax year, asset allocation is more than academic. Equities or bonds, US or emerging markets, retailers or miners – it’s time to put our money where our mouth is - 24th March
 * The market high has investors worried - and for good reason - Back from some time on the road talking to private investors, I was struck last week by the mismatch between a stock market on the cusp of a new all-time high (tantalisingly close in the case of the S&P 500) and a pervasive feeling of anxiety - 17th March
 * Property is ripe for investment and no more risky than bonds - A couple of things reminded me this week that the biggest risk for an investor can sometimes – and counter-intuitively – be trying to keep out of trouble - 10th March
 * Why the past decade is a bad measure of investment success - By focusing on shares’ “lost decade” since 2000 many investors have missed out on the near doubling of the market since the more recent low in March 2009 - 3rd March
 * Notwithstanding a 'death's cross', gold is in the balance - When my Punjabi in-laws made the traumatic journey from their home in Pakistan to a new life in India after Partition, they were at least able to take some gold with them - 24th February
 * Buffett’s Heinz deal signals resurgence of M&A market - Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann was pushing on an open door when he asked Warren Buffett to join him in bidding for Heinz - 17th February
 * Bond and equity returns could both end up in doldrums - The big question of the day in investment – bonds or equities, aka the Great Rotation – rests on an implied assumption: that at any given time a decent return can be found in one or other of these two asset classes - 10th February
 * This rally has legs, so ignore the naysayers and top up - Most of the conversations I am having about the markets at the moment are not to discuss how long the rally might continue but when it’s going to end - 3rd February
 * America gives hope as it brings manufacturing home - It’s nearly 30 years since Ronald Reagan launched his re-election campaign by declaring: “It’s morning again in America” - 27th January
 * Look at the differences between companies, not the similarities - I remember many years ago being struck by how many pushchairs there were on the streets of London - 20th January
 * At last, question time for the money printers - 'Ring-fencing” and “quantitative easing”. When it comes to the Western world’s response to the sub-prime crisis, these two policies quickly established themselves, and remain, as the conventional wisdom - 31st December
 * Watershed moment for FTSE but don’t take it too seriously - On Wednesday afternoon last week the FTSE 100 ticker on my computer moved above 6,091. To most normal people, this random-looking number won’t mean much. To a nerd like me, however, it felt like a watershed moment - 13th January
 * This 2013 share rally has nothing to do with the time of year - It usually comes later in the month, but I wasn’t surprised to be asked the question this week. After a barnstorming start to the year, can markets keep up the pace? - 6th January



Articles: 2012

 * My festive prediction? Over 10 years, the stock market will double - It is traditional at this time of year to make predictions for the next 12 months - 23rd December
 * After a generation of false dawns, is the sun starting to shine on Japan? - Looking around in the late 1980s for ways to put off getting a proper job, there seemed nowhere better to go than Japan - 16th December
 * Osborne’s vision of grim stagnation sets scene for QE III - The apparent success of quantitative easing in the US means QE will be pursued with increasing vigour in all the main developed markets - 8th December
 * Diversification is key to tackling this tricky bond bubble - Many of my recent conversations with investors have quickly turned to today's hottest market topic – the price of bonds and whether or not a bubble in fixed-income investments is inflating - 2nd December
 * Investors pounce on SABMiller in this post-crisis world - Deleveraging is an ugly word for a painful process – one that will define the investing backdrop in the developed world for many years to come - 25th November
 * America’s salvation is an industrial renaissance - The International Energy Agency’s suggestion that the US could be the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 has prompted some breathless analysis of America’s shale boom - 18th November
 * More wobbles on Wall St, but US is better bet than Europe - The market reaction to President Barack Obama’s victory in the US presidential election was surprising when you consider that nothing really changed -11th November
 * Don’t be fooled: these new investment rules are important - At the end of this year a small revolution will take place in the investment business – financial advisers will no longer be able to receive commission from fund groups for recommending their products - 27th October
 * Wall Street walks a tightrope as US gets back on track - US shares should continue to outperform next year but the election means there are a few tricky weeks to get through first - 21st October
 * Lessons of the 1987 crash are clear – don’t panic, invest - At the risk of matching weatherman Michael Fish for disastrous overconfidence, I think there is little danger of history repeating itself next week on the 25th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash - 14th October
 * Africa, the final frontier, but the challenges are daunting - A colleague gave me an insight into the global village that investors inhabit these days - 7th October
 * You can't afford not to invest in China, despite the country's problems - Were it not for rubber bullets on the streets of Madrid and a US presidential election campaign building a head of steam, China would surely be getting more attention than it has - 30th September
 * Investors don't want the US to fall off the fiscal cliff - In the run-up to the US presidential election, investor attention is set to shift - 23rd September
 * So far, so unconvincing for this BAE mega-deal - Act in haste, repent at leisure. The news last week that Britain’s leading defence contractor, BAE, is in talks to merge with the Franco-German aerospace giant, EADS, raises a whole host of knotty problems - 16th September
 * It’s the US economy, stupid – but not in the way you think - The US Presidential election is only weeks away but even the razzmatazz of the recent party conventions has been overshadowed by events in Europe - 9th September
 * Swindles, bears and brains – summer reading for investors - With just a week to go before my summer holiday, I'm fine-tuning my reading list. This year I'm packing three quite different books - 12th August
 * Why the 'long, painful correction’ is nowhere near over - Rate cuts that began in August 2007 won’t be reversed any time soon - 5th August
 * Looking for a safe haven? South-east Asia could fit the bill - Some of the countries that make up the ASEAN region have been among the best places to ride out the financial crisis - 29th July
 * Invest in a solution to the global food crisis, not its symptoms - For the third time in five years, the world is braced for a food crisis - 22nd July
 * Chinese 'economic miracle', slowed yes, but still humming - A highlight of a recent visit to China was a bull-bear debate between two outspoken market watchers who slugged it out while we worked our way through one of those delicious but endless Chinese banquets - 15th July
 * Equity resistance to gathering gloom faces severe challenge - Shares are cheap, but don’t bank on the disconnect between market and economy holding for the rest of the year - 8th July
 * Backing Britain? In a volatile world it makes perfect sense - I gave a presentation to some clients on Friday in which I compared the world’s markets with an increasingly wobbly three-legged stool - 1st June
 * Sliding oil price could herald the beginning of a recovery - Markets, like men, are not much good at multi-tasking. So while we’ve all been obsessing over every twist and turn in the eurozone saga, something extraordinary has happened to the most important number in the world – the oil price - 24th June
 * Sensible investors are being forced to take a long-term view - It goes without saying that markets are volatile at the moment. Five of the past 10 days have seen the S&P 500 move by more than 1pc, with intra-day movements often bigger still - 17th June
 * Crisis-hit Europe offers a brighter picture for investors - You do not have to be a confirmed contrarian to look at my chart this week and ask whether now might be the time to buy European equities - 10th June
 * It's the UK's party but ECB president Mario Draghi can cry if he wants to - How’s your Jubilee weekend going? Enjoying the celebrations? If so, it is a fair bet that you have been too busy with the street party to spend much time pondering the state of the world - 3rd June
 * Four ways to direct your feet to the sunny side of the street - When I warned last week that we would have to get used to greater market volatility this summer, I was more confident about the market prediction than the seasonal reference - 27th May
 * We are going to have to get used to volatile markets - If the past week feels familiar, there’s a good reason - 20th May
 * Reports of the death of the equity are greatly exaggerated - When I started writing about investment 20-odd years ago, bonds were a minority interest - 13th May
 * It's China's mass market that offers the best opportunities - One of the things which surprised me as I walked round a WuMart supermarket in Beijing recently was the number of Western brands on the shelves. Pampers, Quaker Oats and even Blue Nun wine at an eye-watering £18 a bottle jumped out - 6th May
 * China, the gigantic Asian tiger, can still achieve a soft landing - I was unaware when I was planning my trip to China, starting today, that the timing would be quite so good - 15th April
 * The market may wobble, but it still holds long term value - After the excitement of the best first quarter for more than a decade in some markets, there was always a risk that the beginning of the current three-month term would disappoint - 8th April
 * Grannies will shape the global economy of the future - The Chancellor’s misreading of demographics and the Granny Tax ambush it triggered was the unexpected highlight of this year’s Budget - 1st April
 * What is Goldman's case for equities and does it stack up? - The emerging science of behavioural finance has lots of fancy expressions for quite simple concepts. One of those sprang to mind last week when I read a note from Goldman Sachs called "The Long Good Buy: the Case for Equities" - 25th March
 * The oil price is the new eurozone crisis - No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price - 18th March
 * Cautious optimism for Japan a year on from earthquake - Sunday is a grim anniversary for Japan – a year to the day since a powerful earthquake swept a wall of sea water many miles inland - 11th March
 * Be a Buffett, don't back the benchmark - Warren Buffett’s latest letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders is the usual mixture of folksy charm and investment wisdom - 4th March
 * Time to swim against the tide and dip into Europe again - 'Follow the money" was Deep Throat's famous advice to Bernstein and Woodward as the Washington Post reporters tried to stand up the Watergate story - 26th February
 * It's hard to disagree with Buffett's enthusiasm for America - Looking at the Berkshire Hathaway website this week to find out when Warren Buffett's next letter to shareholders is due (at the end of the month, as it happens), I dipped into last February's missive. It was a good reminder of why he is one of the world's richest men and most of us are not – he sees things before we do - 19th February
 * Lessons to be learnt from rampant inflation of the 70s - Contrary to a widely-held belief, equities are not a great hedge against inflation - 12th February
 * Why Glenstrata puts Facebook on its mettle for investors - Well, thank goodness for that – it’s been a week in which investors have been given the excuse to focus on something other than Europe or macro-economics - 5th February
 * Glass half-full again as investors take cheer from 'January Effect' - Since the New Year, Mr Market's mood has picked up dramatically and the price he is quoting us today is not far off last year's peak - 29th January
 * The key to a resilient portfolio - Recent history shows that picking the right country to invest in matters - 22nd January
 * How to ensure 'Je ne regrette rien' investment year - Drawing up a chart of the winners and losers in 2011 this week, I wondered how many investors are beating themselves up with painful and ultimately useless “why-oh-why did I do that?” tirades - 15th January
 * Income, not growth, is once again the main driver of returns - For a couple of years in the 1990s I wrote a newsletter called Investing for Growth. Its approach was simple - 8th January
 * your portfolio for another politically charged 12 months'' - I’m guessing you will raise a glass tonight to a better 2012. No one’s looking back fondly on the last year and I’m also hoping for the next 12 months to be easier - 1st January



Articles: 2011

 * Risk re-evaluated in 2011 due to leaders’ lack of gumption - This has been a trying year for investors and an odd one too, one that has left many of us rabbit-in-the-headlights, scared to do anything much at all - 18th December
 * A silver lining peeps through the UK's economic cloud - He had no choice in the matter, of course, but the Prime Minister could not have picked a worse weekend for Britain to start enjoying its own company on the edge of an increasingly hostile Continent - 11th December
 * Be defensive, and remember that this too shall pass - So let's just recap the string of "good" news fuelling the best week for global stock markets since November 2008, a week in which shares rose by almost 9pc, a kind of reverse correction - 4th December
 * still the best place to find safe-haven stocks'' - Thanksgiving really was the appropriate word this year. Whatever else our American cousins have to be thankful for, they are particularly grateful that they are safely on their side of the pond right now - 27th November
 * Bond market vigilantes turn on Italy - I remember a former editor of this newspaper instructing the City desk in 2006 to get up to speed on collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) - 13th November
 * The thing most companies seem to fear at the moment is fear itself - An interesting question to ask this weekend is what the market would do on good news - 6th November
 * Why the population boom is significant to the world's investors - Sometime tomorrow, if the United Nations has done its sums right, the world's population will hit seven billion for the first time - 30th October
 * EU talks: five things investors should look for - No one who has watched the recent fudge and procrastination of eurozone politicians will be surprised that Super Sunday has been postponed until the middle of next week - 24th October
 * For the slow route to riches use equity income investment - On a recent trip to the Middle East, two questions cropped up repeatedly. What did I think about gold and banks as investments? - 15th October
 * Finding the next Apple may well be impossible for investors - Maybe it's pushing it to call it a JFK moment. But the airline flying me back from a trip to the Middle East on Thursday considered the death of Steve Jobs significant enough to flash it up on the seat-back screen I was watching - 8th October
 * Buying shares at their current prices stacks the odds in your favour - A miserable quarter for investors came to a close on Friday, with UK shares ending September around 15pc lower than they stood at the end of June and down by a similar margin for the year as a whole - 2nd October
 * ETFs have potential to become the next toxic scandal - Who says regulators are only good for slamming the barn door after the horse has bolted? - 18th September
 * Summer of volatility gives way to a mood of quiet resignation - The market's response to the speeches made last week by US President Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, spoke volumes - 11th September
 * August's market bloodbath points the way to the developing world - No one is going to be sorry that August is out of the way - 4th September
 * week that knocked the financial world off its axis'' - Just another quiet summer week, really. The FTSE 100 started at 5,247 and ended at 5,320. It was hardly worth coming out of the sea to check your BlackBerry - 14th August
 * downgrade gets to the heart of the current crisis'' - First, the bad news. The downgrading of US government debt by Standard & Poor’s gives markets something new to worry about on Monday morning so it would be too optimistic to predict that last week’s carnage, which saw the world’s main equity benchmarks fall by more than 10pc, has run its course just yet - 7th August
 * us hope that the US realises quite what a mess it’s in'' - "America will always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all the other options." Winston Churchill's words ring truer than ever today, with just over a week remaining before the US Government's cheques start bouncing - 24th July
 * debt crisis germs will spread unless politicians act'' - the only sustainable solution to the eurozone debt crisis is greater fiscal integration and until politicians respond financial markets will remain volatitle - 17th July
 * ways investors can protect themselves from a company's loss of reputation'' - Shares in BSkyB began last week at 849p but ended it at 750p as investors saw the hacking crisis as a potentially fatal blow to its proposed takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - 10th July
 * an enduring strategy for smart investors'' - The vocabulary of investment analysis is not pretty on the whole, with its metrics and ratios and tracking errors, but there is one investment term that is particularly delightful – "scuttlebutt" - 3rd July
 * power takes the economic stage, for better or worse'' - As a general rule, the best thing that politicians can do with regard to financial markets and the economy is to leave well alone - 26th June
 * feel boardroom failings where it hurts most'' - Big investment houses are accused of not engaging enough with companies on governance issues, although the reality is that many more conversations take place behind the scenes than get reported - 12th June
 * spectre of slowing growth makes for a nervous summer'' - It's all worryingly familiar, a kind of Groundhog Day for investors. During the summer of 2010, markets had a nasty wobble and volatility spiked as investors worried that major economies, the US's in particular, were heading back into recession - 5th June
 * boring is often best when it comes to investments'' - It felt quite like the old days last week. For the first time in a decade, investors faced a choice between the old and new worlds, between the gritty reality of stuff dug out of the ground and the exhilarating untapped potential of the internet's social media revolution - 22nd May
 * a tight belt is the best way to strangle inflation'' - One of the surprising things about last week’s Inflation Report was its lack of impact - 15th May
 * truth behind the popular markets adage of 'sell in May''' - Goldman Sachs' flotation marked the top of the equity bubble in 1999, while Blackstone's IPO rang the bell for private equity in 2007 - 8th May
 * history tells us about returns over the next 30 years'' - Looking at the economic backdrop for the royal wedding in 1981, there are more than a few similarities with the outlook today - 23rd April
 * valuations matter in US and China's tale of two economies'' - The two biggest economies in the world could hardly look more different this week - 17th April
 * woes create opportunity for investors'' - Three years ago, the European Central Bank (ECB) took fright at soaring commodity prices and raised interest rates by a quarter point in the face of an easing of monetary policy in the US and UK that had been running for nearly a year - 10th April
 * soon find out if superior growth in the US is justified'' - Taking stock at the end of the first quarter, two things strike me about the performance of the markets over the past six months - 3rd April
 * reasons why Japan represents a buying opportunity'' - Even by the standards of Japan, where the job for life is still a reality, my colleague Yasuo Kuramoto has shown remarkable loyalty - 27th March
 * 2011: Chancellor must look beyond fixing the balance sheet'' - George Osborne’s second Budget will allow us to focus on something other than the relentlessly depressing news from Japan and the Middle East but next Wednesday’s speech is unlikely to provide much of a diversion. If we’re frank the Chancellor would prefer not to start from here - 20th March
 * could emerge stronger from this catastrophic quake'' - The topography of Japan ensures it is unusually vulnerable to the appalling combination of earthquake and tsunami that struck on Friday. The mountainous country lives on its coast so the position of the epicentre off the eastern seaboard could hardly have been worse - 13th March
 * mind-bogglingly simple: high-yielders work over time'' - Three of the big five UK-listed banks increased their payouts to shareholders for the year to December 2010, but the hikes were cold comfort for investors who had become used to a steady and high income from the sector before the financial crisis pulled the dividend rug away - 6th March
 * Egypt, now Libya - how investors can protect against a soaring oil price'' - While investors could shrug off the upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt – neither is of global economic significance – Libya is a different matter - 27th February
 * corruption worries shouldn't dishearten investors'' - Manmohan Singh, the embattled Indian prime minister, will be hoping that the Cricket World Cup which starts this weekend will provide the bread and circuses his government desperately needs - 20th February
 * investors, there's no such thing as a free lunch'' - There is a good reason why some observations on financial markets or investor behaviour become the conventional wisdom - 12th February
 * food and energy prices could be here to stay'' - Shortages of all commodities can cause hardship, but only food and water exact the ultimate price - 6th February
 * of inflation not to be taken lightly'' - If you’re worried about inflation you are in good company. From Beijing to Berlin and the Bank of England, rising prices are top of everyone’s list - 30th January
 * markets will sound their own note'' - The mood music around emerging markets has become a lot less soothing in recent weeks. The same investors who couldn't get enough of India and China a few months ago have now shifted their affections to Japan and, to a lesser extent, the US and UK - 22nd January
 * harsh arithmetic of an ageing society'' - The scrapping of the default retirement age last week focused my attention on the wildly different financial worlds inhabited by my parents, who are in their seventies, and my children, the oldest of whom will soon be heading off to university - 16th January
 * of ageing has a silver lining for investors'' - Ageing is not all bad news, as baby-boomers entering retirement hold promise for some business sectors - 9th January
 * intentions for 2011 hold some surprises'' - There's no particular reason to choose this time of year to re-assess our investments, but a surfeit of spare time and a seasonal urge to do better ensures that many of us will be doing so this weekend - 1st January



Articles: 2010

 * a long-term view on emerging markets'' - Investment is sometimes a case of getting one or two big decisions right - 26th December
 * for Europe not as icy as it appears'' - It is a fitting coincidence that my spin round the world's major markets over the past few weeks should return to Europe just as the cold snap bites again. Last week's thaw accompanied my look at the US, where recovery is slowly but surely getting under way - 19th December
 * US equities could be hard to beat in 2011'' - Hosting a debate between a panel of fund managers and asset allocators recently, I was struck by the unanimity of their views on what would be the best-performing geographic area next year - 12th December
 * companies offer some warmth for a chilly Britain'' - Looking out of my window at an unseasonal foot of snow, I am trying not to allow the level of the mercury to influence my outlook on the UK economy for 2011. Try as I might, however, I can’t avoid concluding that things look pretty chilly next year - 5th December
 * the dollar and gold, here are the real safe havens'' - Contemplating eurozone disintegration, renewed hostilities in Korea and an anti-inflationary clampdown in China, investors' default reaction has been a time-honoured retreat into the perceived safe havens of the dollar, Treasuries and gold. I'm not sure this makes much sense - 28th November
 * from history in China's inflation crisis'' - History makes clear why the Chinese are so twitchy about their rapidly rising consumer price inflation. The governments of poor countries (even ones that are getting rich as rapidly as China) know that hungry people are quick to take to the streets - 21st November
 * most, equities are still a step too far'' - A feature of investment markets this year has been the so-called risk-on, risk-off trade whereby investors have swung between an appetite for more risky assets like shares and commodities and a desire to play it safe in the perceived calm havens of government bonds and cash - 14th November
 * reflation express must keep on rolling'' - The governments of China, Brazil and Germany may think it's worth squaring up to Ben Bernanke, but investors in the UK stock market and plenty of others around the world are wisely acting on that old investment adage: Don't Fight the Fed - 7th November
 * must week in the US markets for investors'' - The US stock market struggles to generate the same sort of interest as the readily understandable and exciting emerging markets narrative - 31st October
 * every nation for itself in the devaluation race'' - Is it really only two years since the world's most powerful nations stood shoulder to shoulder, promising to do what it took to haul the global economy back from the brink? - 24th October
 * the markets, there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of spending cuts'' - When Gordon Brown ditched prudence eight years ago, a group of service companies saw their opportunity - 17th October
 * I'm with Warren Buffett on bonds versus equities'' - Follow the herd or follow Warren Buffett? That sounds like it should be a pretty simple choice for most investors given the average investor's consistent ability to buy and sell at the wrong time and the sage of Omaha's ranking as one of the world's richest men - 10th October
 * destiny assured under former Marxist guerrilla'' - Brazil goes to the polls today looking almost certain to elect a former Marxist guerrilla as the country's first-ever female president - 3rd October
 * Cable was right on the evil of short-termism'' - It was a shame that Vince Cable chose to dress up his speech to the Liberal Democrat conference as a populist rant against the evils of capitalism because there was some sensible stuff lurking behind the rhetoric. In particular, he was right to worry about short-termism - 26th September
 * is a tricky time for investors'' - The middle of September is not the easiest time for investors to keep their nerve, so I suppose I should not have been surprised to read references in an otherwise mainstream piece of market analysis to next week's autumnal equinox and full moon - 19th September
 * prices soar, give food some thought'' - Food has hit the headlines again in a reminder of the spiralling inflation and social unrest that swept through the developing world in 2008 - 11th September
 * the bottom fallen out of equities?'' - Asked what he thought about the French Revolution, Chairman Mao famously replied that it was "too soon to tell". His point, I suppose, was that events which seem important at the time may be less so when viewed as part of the great sweep of history - 5th September
 * investors out of Africa, it's time to buy in'' - When I started out in financial journalism, I was handed a book called How to Read the Financial Pages. It was an excellent primer for someone with the ambition to write those financial pages but as far as I can remember it didn't tell me the most important thing about how an investor should read the business press, which, in a word, is backwards - 15th August
 * franc exchange just proves the argument'' - I was reminded this week of some excellent advice in one of Warren Buffett's letters in the Berkshire Hathaway annual report - 8th August
 * of good news, but hold the champers'' - Where's Cerberus when you need him? The mythical canine could look into the past, present and future with his three heads - 1st August
 * the market is dogged by difficulty'' - It is a weakness, I know, but when I see the words "Simple investment strategy that WORKS!" I can't help reading on - 25th July
 * of retirement regime is long overdue'' - The Government's new pension plans will be a breath of fresh air, but if you don't start saving early you will still lose out - 17th July
 * history takes the side of the optimists'' - Stock market history never repeats itself exactly, but sometimes the similarities are uncanny - 11th July
 * pensions to earnings is a gamble'' - 27th June
 * 2010: time to go back to the future'' - Tuesday's emergency Budget will be a throwback to the days when the Chancellor's words mattered more to the City - 20th June
 * was a lot more vulnerable than its blue-chip status suggested'' - I was chatting last week with a retired BP exploration man who had worked for the company in the Gulf of Mexico. He said ruefully that his overall net worth had been hit hard by his old employer's troubles - 13th June
 * is a great safety net if things go wrong'' - In these uncertain times, strong cases can be made for and against most investments - 6th June
 * panic, there is good market news'' - The world's stock markets are increasingly joined at the hip, moving up and down in lock-step. So when major indices diverge significantly over a period of time, it's worth asking: "What's going on?" - 23rd May
 * love-in is over and taxing times lie ahead'' - Even before Friday's euro-related wobble, the great Con-Lib love-in had elicited only a subdued response from investors - 23rd May
 * pressure will set summer agenda'' - There's not much to smile about from a UK market perspective this weekend but there is one piece of good news. If nothing else, the Bank of England is almost certain to leave interest rates on hold at 0.5pc tomorrow for a 14th consecutive month - 9th May
 * domestic tragedy awaits the Greeks'' - It is fitting that Greece is at the heart of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis because the financial calamity which began three years ago is unfolding with all the grim predictability of a classical tragedy - 2nd May
 * and investors deserve answers'' - It is no coincidence that next week's final leaders' debate is on the economy. If ever an election has had an over-riding theme, this is it. It is also unsurprising that the key economic issue – reduction of the £163bn budget deficit – has been the elephant in the room that no one has wanted to talk about - 25th April
 * economic stakes unusually high'' - Most general elections are a non-event from an investment point of view because markets have plenty of time to price in the likely outcome and regular opinion polls ensure that genuine surprises are rare - 18th April
 * we can't leave Asian markets alone'' - Since the curtain came down on Thailand's absolute monarchy in 1932, the country has seen 11 military coups, 18 constitutions and 27 prime ministers. Political upheaval is a way of life and investors have learned to accept periodic turmoil as the price for access to a rapidly emerging market - 11th April
 * need to know the truth on tax'' - This has been quite a week for the "do as I say not as I do" school of public policy. Two major public statements within a couple of days of each other, two completely different interpretations of financial transparency - 28th March
 * 2010: reasons to be cheerful'' - Next Wednesday's Budget is in some regards not the one we should be concerning ourselves with. What's likely to be Alistair Darling's last set piece as Chancellor is still part of the pre-election fiscal phoney war. - 21st March
 * bust taught us how to love hi-tech'' - You wait for ages for an anniversary and then they all come along at once - 14th March
 * ways to solve our savings crisis'' - That ticking sound you can hear is the time bomb of pensioner poverty. No one knows when it will go off, but if we continue on our current reckless trajectory it most certainly will - 28th February
 * investment strategies can be the most deceptive'' - The investment business works on the "kiss principle" (keep it simple, stupid) -21st February
 * much should you be risking in the East?'' - There's an amusing scene in Diner, a wry and touching film about a group of young blue-collar lads in 1950s Baltimore. In it, Mickey Rourke drives out into the Maryland countryside, spies a pretty and obviously rich girl on her horse and asks his friend: "Do you ever think there's something going on out there that we don't know anything about?" - 14th February
 * divergent views for better investment'' - One of the hallmarks of a successful investor is the desire to seek out people holding diametrically opposed views, to test a conviction against a strongly-held counter-argument - 7th February
 * promise can't be broken by jitters'' - It is a tale of three corrections... - 31st January
 * your half-full glass to a positive market'' - Most people see themselves as glass-half-full or glass-half-empty types. They think their view of the world is consistent. But when we operate in financial markets, our sentiment is constantly fluctuating and heavily influenced by our recent experience. What matters is not so much where we are now as where we have just come from - 24th January
 * rates: the lower the better'' - There's nothing like buying a house to concentrate the mind on the future path of interest rates - 17th January
 * shares show you why 2010 will be the year for the skilled stock picker'' - The performance of retail shares over the past week holds a lesson for all those deciding which shares to buy in 2010 - 10th January
 * face a fret, relax and worry cycle'' - Investors are only rarely granted the luxury of great conviction. Most of the time markets are neither very cheap nor very expensive - 3rd January



Articles: 2009

 * shares rally can't hide a lost decade'' - If someone had told you in December 1999 that 10 years into the future the FTSE 100 would stand at around 5,200 your response would likely be one of incredulity - 20th December
 * UK is worryingly similar to Greece'' - On Tuesday, Greece's sovereign debt was downgraded by Fitch, the ratings agency. Then, within 24 hours, Alistair Darling failed to reassure nervous international investors that he is a man with a plan to reduce Britain's yawning budget deficit - 13th December
 * time for action, not words, has come'' - How will the markets react to next week's pre-Budget report (PBR)? - 6th December
 * an emerging market wake-up call'' - The reaction to this week's events in Dubai says a lot more about investors' nerves after one of the fastest market rallies since the 1930s than it does about the real significance of a largish property bond default in the Gulf - 29th November
 * 'January effect' is a familiar pattern'' - It is human nature to look for patterns. They are how people make sense of the world and it would be unusual if investors differed in this regard from anyone else - 22nd November
 * time to move into quality and end 'the dash for trash''' - John Maynard Keynes famously likened investing in the stock market to a newspaper beauty contest in which contestants rank a number of faces in order of attractiveness. The winners in this game are the players who pick the most popular face - 15th November
 * on track for Warren Buffett-style flutter'' - Warren Buffett's $44bn purchase of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway is a classic Berkshire Hathaway acquisition - 8th November
 * best of the market rally is over... but don't despair'' - Anyone with experience of young children at Christmas will know that it can be better to travel than to arrive. The anticipation of the longed-for present is often more exciting than the reality once the shiny paper's been ripped off - 1st November
 * gives a precious insight into economy'' - What a strange and fascinating commodity gold is – a store of value that is no one's liability, which cannot be printed or debauched by governments but which, with no income stream, has no objective value. A simultaneous hedge against both deflationary slump and inflationary spiral, it is little wonder gold should be the investment of choice for the Armageddon crowd - 25th October
 * in a bottle at Asian auction'' - Another nail was driven into the coffin of Western economic dominance this week when a Chinese buyer paid $93,000 (£58,000) for an Imperial bottle of 1982 Chateau Petrus at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong - 11th October
 * handout may be a sop, but investors should seize it with both hands'' - The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away – like the Government really, which has made an art form of fiscal distraction, waving a high-profile giveaway in your face while jabbing in a much bigger tax grab under your ribs - 1st October
 * handout may be a sop, but investors should seize it with both hands'' - The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away – like the Government really, which has made an art form of fiscal distraction, waving a high-profile giveaway in your face while jabbing in a much bigger tax grab under your ribs - 30th September
 * dark misgivings make King’s universe the bleakest of them all'' -Tom Stevenson sees comparison between Philip Pullman's novel The Subtle Knife and the parallel realms of opposing financial thinkers - 23rd September
 * the risk of stating the obvious, markets can be very unpredictable'' - What has the investment business learned since the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago? Not a lot is the tempting answer - 16th September
 * compelling reason why gold could be poised for a meaningful rise'' - How significant is gold's break through $1,000 on Tuesday? We have been here before, most recently in February, but each time the yellow metal has failed to hold the line - 9th September
 * the Great Depression, September has been the worst month for US stocks'' - If you are returning to work this week quietly confident about the outlook for the market then you are (marginally) in the majority, but probably not a student of stock market history - 2nd September
 * green lights than red on the rocky road to a sustained recovery'' - When the stock market has rebounded as strongly as it has since March, an obvious question arises: have shares moved too far, too fast? - 12th August
 * market euphoria is not as widespread as the investor gloom of March'' - There are some good reasons why shares should have rallied in the way that they have and could go further still - 5th August
 * FTSE's legs may given up at 11 but there are reasons for optimism'' - In the end it wasn't to be. A 12th consecutive gain for the FTSE 100 on Tuesday would have been its longest sustained rally since the UK's benchmark index was created 25 years ago - 29th July
 * wishful thinking about house prices smacks of dotcom delusion'' - The current housing market optimism is a rose-tinted view - 22nd July
 * managers and the argument for active fund management'' - Many professional stock-pickers will look back on the last 12 months as their annus horribilis - 15th July
 * investors should set their sights on a market of eastern promise'' - Compare and contrast. The FTSE 100 index hit bottom on March 3 and had risen 28pc by the beginning of June. It has since fallen back by 6pc. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index turned the corner back in October 2008, It had risen 69pc by the start of June. Today, it is less than 2pc off this peak - 9th July
 * moving in right direction with focus on independent advice'' - Regulator's vision for an improved financial system sees better value for customers, more highly-regarded independent advisers and a first step towards closing the savings gap for all of us - 2nd July
 * what recovery? June nips economic green shoots in the bud'' - Recovery, what recovery? June, not April, has been the cruellest month in 2009, nipping green shoots in the bud and reminding us that recoveries after financial crises can be slow and fitful affairs - 25th June
 * are finally seeing the nonsense in the efficient market theory'' - The best response I've heard to the efficient markets theory that has dominated thinking about investment for 30 years or more is a joke. Two men walking down a street spot a £20 note on the pavement. One, an economics professor, says to the other: "don't bother to pick it up – if it were really a £20 note it wouldn't be there" - 18th June
 * score will encourage investors to strike up the recovery band'' - Nervous investors may be tempted to start buying again - 11th June
 * bond yields highlight fears about governments’ crisis skills'' - When Germany's Chancellor Merkel accuses the world's main central banks of aggravating the financial crisis with loose monetary policy, she says as much about her country's history as she does about today's challenges - 4th June
 * avoid pensions penury, follow Goethe: whatever you can do, start doing it'' - Anyone who gives a moment's thought to pensions knows we have a crisis on our hands - 28th May
 * the growers from the cutters and reap the dividends' rewards'' - Investors are going to have to become a bit smarter about getting an income from their shares - 21st May
 * markets second wind blows in the face of short-term thinking'' - It's nothing if not fickle, the stock market. Six months ago I observed that investors had abandoned a couple of beliefs which half a year earlier had been universally held – the long-term investment attraction of emerging markets and the commodity super-cycle - 14th May
 * market rally seems built on something more substantial than hope'' - There are more reasons to be cheerful than the anticipation of the summer months to come. Whisper it, but some economies might be warming up too - 7th May
 * beware, the Chancellor may come to bury Prudence'' - That whirring sound is the Government back-pedalling on earlier hints that it would present a Budget for Savers next week - 16th April
 * hobbled by the fact our problems are global but politics remain national'' - Today's G20 meeting should be a defining moment in the fight against the global economic slump but it will more likely provide nothing more than a limp communiqué that barely papers over the cracks between delegates - 2nd April
 * this rally is the real McCoy, most people will miss out'' - Winter on the markets could finally be ending, but it will take time for investors to shed their bearskins - 26th March 2009
 * no silver bullet and no crowd pleasers in Turner's remedy'' - One message comes through loud and clear from Lord Turner's review of banking regulation – there is no silver bullet - 19th March
 * to draw comparisons with 1974? It's the differences that stand out'' - A recent column highlighting the uncanny similarity between the final year of the 1972-1974 bear market and the recent performance of the stock market prompted a reader to send me a picture of the FT 30 index in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was not a pretty sight - 11th March
 * state of the market is no over-reaction but the odds are with investors'' - It is amazing what you can believe when your job depends on it. Which is why professional fund managers are well-advised to pay closer attention to the people they disagree with, than those who confirm their prejudices. Talking your own book, even to yourself, can be an expensive delusion - 5th March
 * lean is my valley? A 21st century blockbuster production'' - You do not have to be technical analyst to believe that something rather significant happened this week - 26th February
 * twice about wasting your ISA despite the FTSE's dire performance'' - Over the next six weeks or so many of us will take the annual decision to use or lose our tax-free Individual Savings Account allowance - 19th February
 * of gloomy decades indicates a silver lining for equity investors'' - The Barclays Capital Equity Gilt study will confirm what every investor already knows. The last 10 years have been a grim "lost decade" in the stock market - 11th February



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