On Saturday, the most lucrative match in world football unfolds, and surprisingly, it is not the Champions League final or the World Cup final, but rather the Championship Play Off final. In case you are unfamiliar, the Championship is the division just below the esteemed English Premiere League (EPL).

May is one my favourite months. Not only is it my birth month (the excitement fades a little each year), but the cherry blossom, lighter evenings, and smell of freshly cut grass mark the seasonal transition. Spring has sprung I like to say. In the UK we also get bookended bank holidays on the first and last Mondays of the month.

The city has been abuzz with chatter recently after a very public, scathing attack on the unfriendliness of the UK stock market to new listings. Although the comments could be seen as an ego-massaging exercise to divert attention away from a floundering business, therein lies some truth that the UK stock market is evidently less attractive than our cousins across the pond.

It is the time of year when we, in the northern hemisphere, emerge from winter, welcome new life, and even start a new UK tax year. Our gardens sprout new growth and rediscover colourful displays, it is in many ways an optimistic time of year. Investors might be tempted to have similar feelings towards the investment trust market.

The spectre of a banking crisis returned to haunt markets in March, with the collapse of two mid-sized banks in the US, as well as the fall of the much bigger Credit Suisse into the hands of its rival UBS, a transaction orchestrated by Swiss regulators. (more…)

So far this year we’ve had very little respite from the relentless pace in markets. Russia continues to wage its atrocious and unprovoked war in Ukraine, a global recession looms, and the first quarter is ending with a bang as the dissolution of Credit Suisse into UBS has gripped investors’ attention.

So far this year we’ve had very little respite from the relentless pace in markets. Russia continues to wage its atrocious and unprovoked war in Ukraine, a global recession looms, and the first quarter is ending with a bang as the dissolution of Credit Suisse into UBS has gripped investors’ attention.

The need to do something, rather than nothing, is a trait we all share. Perhaps to pick action over inaction lies deep within our evolutionary development, with the former favouring survival in the gene pool over the latter. As is often the case, our behavioural biases can lead us astray in the modern age. Investing is a case in point.

We undertake rigorous fundamental analysis on all of our new investments and often find the best opportunities present themselves when others are fearful and sentiment has forced share prices adrift from their fundamentals. Capita might not be a household name, but most of you will likely have used their services, whether it be to pay your TV license or when entering a car park with automatic registration plate recognition.

After a benign three months, February proved to be altogether more challenging. Bond markets suffered a big sell-off as the market substantially repriced interest rate expectations in line with the Fed’s view. At the beginning of the month the Fed raised the Fed Funds rate by 25bps as expected, to 4.5-4.75%, and, while signalling further rises ahead, the accompanying statement was interpreted as somewhat dovish.