I had to look up what a K-Shaped recovery was today, having seen and heard it grow in dialogues over the past few weeks. For those that don’t know It’s a recovery that diverges like the arms of the letter ‘K’ with some parts of the economy doing better, and others struggling. That makes sense and feels very apt right now when looking at the U.S but here in the UK it does feel like we’d bite arms off for a ‘K’! The Stoxx 600 dipped again, ending the day -1.2% for its second day in a row with a m…

“Give children stickers not sweets on Halloween” dentists are pleading in the lead up to Halloween to avoid tooth decay. It’s a lovely idea in theory, it really is, but as we are new neighbourhood, who seemingly take Halloween quite seriously….I don’t want to be the new guys on the block who give out stickers – Maoam’s and Harribo’s at the ready (minus a few quality control tests). Trick or Treat on people’s minds as we awaited the potentially scary and spooky UK budget announcement. Less trick…

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, to quote the old proverb, and given that a lot of investors have been in ‘wait and see’ mode for the past while, forgive me for saying that the past two days have felt like a bit of a slog! However, the clock is ticking, and I have a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow’s session might tell a different story with the weeks first major event occurring close to home in the form of Wednesday’s UK Budget. Press speculation and Treasury leaks suggest a fiscal adjust…

Well the clocks officially went back yesterday, resulting in a much appreciated extension of the weekend and a reduced four-hour time difference here in London to our US colleagues for the rest of the week. The original purpose of Daylight Savings was to save fuel (implemented in 1916), and I came across an article on group of EU Parliament members who want to abolish this tradition, arguing that it causes more harm than good due to the health implications of changing the clocks on sleep cycles…

“Fizz the season to visit the Greggs Champagne Bar” instantly caught my eye this week. Fenwick Newcastle the location where you can get a Steak Bake with Peppercorn Aioli and a glass of Bollinger rosé brut which – I’ll take their word for it – are a match made in heaven. The latest PR experiment/innovative idea from Greggs goes to stand out from the crowd whilst insisting that they launched a Vegan Sausage roll, they’re not trying to be Apple. Standing out from the crowd can be a good thing a…

Dear oh dear, is it only Wednesday? The macro painting a similar picture to what we have been used to this week: U.S. (and UK) yields climbing, a decent Dollar bid once again (mainly at the expense of the Yen which has now weakened c9% since the middle of September) and the main difference some decent pull backs in Golf and Silver but they were certainly due one. It’s half term, and there was a raft of earnings to digest which always tends to suck some life out of the market and whilst the vol…

Slow Horses now complete so we’re onto the latest series of Industry in the Morrison household. Everyone has different opinions on it and of course it’s a drama and not a documentary so it’s a little embellished around the edges but the nuts and bolts of what we do on a day-to-day basis are there in my opinion. As the show gets more popular, its quickly become the easiest way to explain (broadly speaking) what sales and trading looks like to friends and family which does help around Christmas t…

I’m a firm believer that you can tell a lot about a person by their Supermarket Meal Deal selection. A Sainsbury’s below the office has opened up this lunch option and its fair to say the selection has improved substantially in the past few years; you can even add Lucky Saint non-alcoholic beer as the ‘Soft drink’! I like to vary things, mixing it up between the classics and some of the quirkier numbers that catch my one – one thing that tends to be a staple is the prawn cocktail crisps! A very…

Starting a little different as we prepare to say a fond farewell. Tonight is the retirement party of Charlie Bridge, Founding Partner of Redburn Atlantic. Charlie has had a long and distinguished career. Starting as a blue button at Rowe & Pitman, he has graced the trading floors of institutions including Enskilda, Flemings and Commerzbank. However, for the last 21 years we have been fortunate to have worked alongside him at Redburn Atlantic. Charlie was always first in the door each day with a…

Slow Horses is just about the best thing on TV in my opinion. A brilliant, gripping drama filled with a sprinkle of comedy and takes me back to some of my Criminology days when there was a time when I thought I could give this whole Spy stuff a crack. Got me thinking about what similar qualities might a Spy and a Sales-Trader possess? Discretion? Working under pressure? Ability to digest lots of information? They are very different jobs and I’m certainly more Johnny English than James Bond but…