Goldman Sachs reported today (strong if a little messy) but I was more interested in the news/confirmation that DJ-D Sol (David Solomon) has officially hung up his decks after what had been quite a colourful hobby DJ’ing around the world. A shame that the public/media attention got in the way of a hobby but he did manage to play at Tomorrowland and Lollapalooza so ticked off a couple on the DJ bucket list alongside running one of the biggest banks in the world. The closest I’ve got is hogging t…

I’m not sure if ‘Rugby World Cup hangover’ was to blame for the quiet start to the week but it felt like it may have had a little impact. I’m a sports fan, watch pretty much everything, and that was simply an outstanding weekend of rugby which restored my faith in the sport providing enthralling, exhilarating games with all four games firmly in the balance with 5 minutes to go. Superb stuff but it is safe to say today’s tape was more like a tedious 5min TMO decision for a knock on than a drop g…

Maybe the most positive thing to take from today was that despite Fresenius Medical (-17%), Fresenius (-8%), LVMH (-6%), Richemont (-4%) all down fairly hard and a bunch of warnings across the UK (Travis Perkins, Page group, Forterra) we still managed to eke out a gain with the Stoxx 600 closing up 15bps. “Where would we be without Novo Nordisk?” a client asked me today and the answer undoubtedly is lower! It was arguably a bit of a nothing day all things considered with Fed minutes this eveni…

A week in France away from the screens a lovely break but I still managed to provide some humour for my family as I asked where the village of ‘Rappel’ actually was whilst driving along the French countryside and seeing multiple signs for it – clearly a little reminder that my limited French was indeed very limited. Today’s Equity rally took inspiration from a pop in Treasuries that have been battered of late once they reopened in Asian trading following some fairly dovish comments yesterday fr…

It seems there has been a dramatic step up in the trade wars between China and the U.S. this week as it has been reported that China is requesting back all their Panda’s from U.S. zoos and by next year there will be none left. I can’t help but imagine some sort of Madagascar remake in years to come to feature the Panda’s plotting their path back to China. If that isn’t a political play I don’t know what is. Aside from Panda diplomacy which we now have to navigate China are now on holiday for Go…

My day was saved by our analyst Ashton who came back from the AG Barr meeting post their pretty good numbers laden with gifts from the motherland. AG Barr are (in my opinion) most famous for creating Irn-Bru (out of Girders) though what was presented to me was their rival to Red Bull – PWR-BRU. Lacking a little bit of energy I put it to the test and its fair to say its got a bit of a kick to it but I guess that is the intention. The Snapshot could largely mirror yesterdays with Equities falling…

It’s a bonanza few weeks in the sporting world and many will have written off the European Ladies having been down 4-0 after the first session of the Solheim Cup but when the lone Spaniard in Europe’s team on home soil, Carlota Ciganda stepped up to drain her birdie putt on 17 the Solheim Cup was retained. Amazing scenes on the south coast of Spain. Putting together a round of golf is a tricky task and when things go against you it can turn fairly quickly. That is a bit like Equity markets at t…

“So far this year, despite pressures on the cost of living, consumer demand appears to have defied gravity!” Not from the BOE statement today but from Next. Alongside a very good trading update their statement was full of important snippets on the economy. They are finding it easier to recruit, the softening labour market may dampen growth in consumer demand and cost of good price inflation is easing. Defying gravity for now then but possibly some early warning signs for next year. Next year th…

The Snapshot has been fairly downbeat of late and I am aware of that. There haven’t been too many reasons to rejoice or celebrate and they still aren’t queuing up but it was a lovely start to the day to see UK inflation come in not just below expectations but below the previous reading. Despite higher petrol prices CPI fell from 6.8% in July to 6.7% in August and core CPI (ex-food and energy) was down significantly to 6.2% (cons 6.8%) after 6.9% in July. All supportive signs and traders cut pro…

Autumn is here – not because of the date, or the weather but because the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is back on the menu at Pret. “A warming, seasonal treat” they say and I have to agree. As mentioned before there isn’t a huge amount of this season that fills the Equity markets with warmth so maybe that’s where we’ll have to get our fix until October (hopefully anyway). European markets once again struggled and although the overall performance was better than yesterday it felt stuck in 2nd gear for mo…