The two week countdown to Christmas is on. You can almost hear the winding down of gears. Bloomberg green dots increasingly turning to red from midday, investors having a look at portfolios and judging whether to make any last minute changes and a frantic rush to find Christmas presents. I certainly know which one is my biggest problem in that list! There will still be liquidity this week though (in every sense) and while markets made a tepid start there are some possible fireworks on the hori…

It’s Christmas Jumper day so it’s always an awkward moment when you compliment someone on their Christmas jumper then realise they aren’t partaking in the event and their wardrobe is just a bit more festive than most. A few very good showings today in the Redburn Atlantic office and I particularly liked Nick Glydon’s which came with jingling bells so I knew when he was close. Keeping Nick Glydon and the charts team close is very important at this time of year when there is a bit of a lull in co…

Christmas is coming and in a clear sign that we’re in a bull market once again, the £395 pound ‘Ultimate Father Christmas Hat’ is completely sold out. Santa must be getting a good deposit rate at the Royal Bank of Lapland! Today was another day where there weren’t too many noticeable parts moving but the path of least resistance was noticeably back higher once again. The Stoxx 600 closed up 60bps with a broad based rally with a number of indices in Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany) still at new al…

I’m not much of a wordsmith but I was surprised that I had never heard the Oxford University Press word of the year used in context. The word is ‘Rizz’ an apparent abbreviation of Charisma and a colloquial word defined as style, charm, or attractiveness (not to be confused with Rizo aka Phil Risley our Algorithmic trading guru though stylish and charming he is). Maybe that is me confined to the Millennial bucket forever when this is clearly a Gen Z world we’re all living in. I’m probably using…

The macro which has dominated so much of the moving parts in global equities for the second half of this year is likely to take a breather this week given the U.S. thanksgiving holiday and started in that fashion with yields slightly higher, the Dollar slightly lower but nothing really moving with much velocity. All that meant was that European Equities traded within a 35bp range all day and ended the day a smidge better than Friday(Stoxx 600 +10bps), holding onto recent gains but not with any…

Right as readers of the Snapshot will know we are quite keen on our food here on the Sales-Trading desk. So our eyes were of course caught by the Aldi Pigs in Blankets Restaurant pop up in Islington where for 5 pounds (proceeds to charity) you will be able to get a 6 course menu including Pigs in Blankets (well you would hope so) Caramelised onion chipolatas wrapped in bacon, Brie and cranberry candy cane pigs in blanket, and Giant Yorkshire pudding pig in blankets. The bad news is I cant seem…

In my more youthful days at School I was often criticised for doing the very minimum amount of work to get by but there is no better way to describe this morning’s events within European Equities than ‘Please see yesterday’s Snapshot for details.’ Tight ranges, grinding higher, no volume, lack of conviction, not much dispersion and all in all everyone was waiting for the CPI – It was a print worth waiting for judged by the market reaction. Headline CPI was down to 3.2% in October (cons 3.3%) d…

Alec Douglas-Home was the last person to do it and that was over 50 years ago. Not even the Zoom Quizzes over Covid could have prepared me for this question but he was in fact the last former UK Prime Minister to be reinstated in a Cabinet position. His appointment to Foreign Secretary was 7 years after he lost a general election and it is almost exactly 7 years since David Cameron stepped away after a calamitous Brexit vote went against him so there are plenty of similarities but on a quiet Mo…

A few sore heads and tired souls within the execution team as a number attended The Trade – Leaders in Trading awards dinner last night. The bad news is that sadly I no longer fit into a 16.5 inch collar, the good news is that Redburn Atlantic won the award for Best Client Service. A huge congratulations to the EU Algo team who all work so hard to make sure our algo clients get the best possible service and it’s also important to mention/thank the Execution Architecture, Analytics and Operation…

A lot of talk about whether we’ve got a Santa Rally on our hands into year end or whether we reverse things in the near term. A lot certainly hoping it’s the former it must be said and there are little snippets that support that argument. Possibly the earliest sign of the Santa Rally were provided by a surprise guest in the Pret Sandwich fridge…that is right….the Pret Christmas Sandwich is back for its beautiful cameo on the lunch rota for the next 7 weeks! It feels earlier than normal it must…