Indholdsfortegnelse for 1208 i MoneyWeek

“Donald Trump’s agenda... could create new inflation pressures... Plans include 60% tariffs on Chinese goods and 10% duties on other global trading partners... Economists [at] Oxford Economics found that [should Trump’s agenda be implemented fully it] could push [US] prices up between 0.5% and 1% in 2026 and 2027... [In response] Trump’s advisers... note that his 2017 and 2018 tariffs didn’t result in an inflation spike... Still, Trump’s proposal for tariffs in 2025 is far above what he implemented in 2017 and 2018. [He] has floated other new ideas, such as devaluing the dollar... Trump could try to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve or even fire Fed Chair... Jerome Powell... Perhaps the key question...is how the race for Congress ends up... Split government [Congress and the presidency controlled…

“Embattled” mining giant Anglo American has set out a “radical new strategy” that will involve selling the famous diamond business De Beers, which once accounted for 85% of the world’s mined diamonds, says Jillian Ambrose in The Guardian. Anglo American also plans to sell or demerge its South African platinum business and its steel-making coal assets. The aim is to create a “radically simplified” company focused on “world-class assets” in copper, iron ore and fertilisers. The hope is that this will help unlock value for shareholders, making it easier for Anglo American to defend itself against a “takeover plot” by rival BHP. Anglo American recently rejected a second offer worth £34bn from the Australian miner. The approach from BHP has clearly served as a “catalyst” for Anglo American, say Bloomberg’s…

Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, has been hit hard by the drop in lithium prices amid unexpectedly slow growth in sales of electric vehicles (EVs), in which lithium is a key material. However, lithium prices have started to stabilise, says Barron’s. Demand for EVs is growing steadily and producers have reined in plans to expand, so supply is likely to decline. Stronger growth in China, moreover, could give the metal an additional fillip. Analysts expect the US company’s sales to exceed $10bn by 2028, with earnings reaching $28 per share. This growth is yet to be reflected in Albemarle’s stock price, which could soon be “recharged and ready to roll”.…

On Monday, prime minister Rishi Sunak warned of the rising threat from an “axis of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China” as three men appeared in a London court on charges of spying on behalf of Hong Kong. The following day, Hong Kong’s leader John Lee warned against “any attempts to interfere in the work of its overseas economic offices” (one of the three men worked at its London trade office), noting that the UK has a trade surplus with the city, says Kahon Chan in the South China Morning Post. Hours later, the UK foreign office summoned the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguan. A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was “unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by…

He may have been threatened with jail for contempt of court, but punters seem to think it more likely that, come November, Donald Trump’s residence will be the White House. With £16.4m matched on Betfair, there has been a noticeable shift to the former president, who is now at less than evens again at 1.98 (50.5%), with Joe Biden’s odds moving out to 2.62 (38.1%). Robert F. Kennedy is at 36 (2.8%), Michelle Obama is at 46 (2.2%) and vice-president Kamala Harris at 70 (1.4%). I think Biden’s chances have been underrated, but don’t bet any more money If you’ve already taken my advice. Another presidential contest that is worth a punt is for the leadership of the European Commission. Ladbrokes is running a market on the contest and has…

If you haven’t already booked a summer holiday it would be a good idea to get a move on. Prices are going up all the time. Michael O’Leary, the pugnacious boss of Ryanair, has already warned that fares may have to go up by as much as 10% this summer because of the shortage of new aeroplanes to meet all the demand for flights. Air Lease, one of the largest suppliers of aeroplanes to all the budget airlines, warned last week that delivery delays from both Boeing and Airbus were likely to persist well into 2025. What was one of the fastest-growing industries in the world is being held back not by a shortage of skilled staff, or landing slots at overcrowded airports, but because there are not enough aeroplanes…

Inflation is the rise in the general level of prices in an economy (or a sector of an economy) over a given period of time. Alternatively, it is sometimes defined as the decline in the purchasing power of each unit of money, which amounts to the same thing. Inflation is usually measured by looking at the change in a price index that is based on the average prices of a basket of goods and services. Typically we look at the year-on-year inflation rate (eg, the change in the price index between May this year and May last year), or the annualised rate over longer periods (eg, if the price index is up by 9.3% over three years, that’s an annualised inflation rate of 3%). When we talk about inflation in…

“Are you basically a modern-day pirate?… You seem to be robbing your staff blind.” Liam Byrne MP (pictured), questioning P&O Ferries’ CEO Peter Hebblethwaite, quoted in The Guardian. Some P&O seafarers are receiving an hourly rate as low as £4.87 “I can make you jobless in this industry… I’m not your mum. I only care about results.” Qu Jing, vice-president of Chinese search giant Baidu, quoted in the Financial Times. She was reportedly fired after posting videos on social-media saying she wanted staff to work hard and didn’t care if it affected their personal lives “The world is not driven by greed. It’s driven by envy. Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at.” Veteran investor Charlie Munger, quoted…

bloomberg.com “Every nation has its eternal truth,” says Matthew Brooker. Brazil, for example, is “the country of the future – and always will be”. Britain’s is represented by Basil Fawlty, the downtrodden, snobbish and rude hotel owner in the classic sitom Fawlty Towers. Stories of bad and declining standards of service have been a staple of British life for decades. The data tell the same story. A biannual customer satisfaction index compiled by the Institute of Customer Service fell to its lowest since 2015 in January. This matters – the institute’s research shows that firms that earn superior customer satisfaction ratings make more profit. Improving customer service should be an “easy win”. So why doesn’t it happen? French chef Michel Roux once attributed it to the class system. “Freed from…

Only half of us have taken the trouble to write our will. But without one your money could end up going to the Crown rather than your loved ones. Research by Canada Life has found that only 50% of UK adults have a will. The most common reason for not having a will was a belief that they weren’t wealthy enough to need one. This was closely followed by the notion that their loved ones would inherit everything even if they didn’t write a will. Both these assumptions are wrong. “At any age, dying without a valid will in place can be a huge burden on your loved ones at a time when they may already be vulnerable and struggling to cope,” Stacey Love, technical manager of tax, trusts and…

Small companies have become much smarter about shopping around for the best deal on gas and electricity, particularly as prices have soared in recent years. But new research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) highlights the importance of looking beyond tariffs when comparing energy providers. Soaring standing charges are also hitting many firms hard, the FSB warns. Standing charges are the fees that energy providers charge – typically per day – irrespective of how much energy you consume. The fee is supposed to cover the cost of providing a supply and investing in infrastructure, but the FSB warns that in some cases, standing charges are now 13 times higher than they were just three years ago. As a result, the fees are having a dramatic effect on firms’ energy…

One sector I have focused on several times in the past few years is the cruise-ship industry. Sadly, I’ve had mixed results. In September 2020 I tipped Carnival Corporation, followed by its rival Norwegian Cruise Line two months later, hoping that Covid restrictions would be lifted more quickly than people were anticipating at the time. In both cases I was too early; I ultimately broke even after making a small loss on Carnival and a small profit on Norwegian Cruise Line. However, with Covid now a fading memory – 2023 set new records for the number of people travelling on cruise ships – I think it is time to take another look at the industry. Part of the boom in numbers is clearly due to people taking holidays they had…

As an infrastructure and sustainable investment specialist founded over 30 years ago, Ecofin has developed expertise in the energy transition. This gives us a specific angle when analysing the listed infrastructure universe worldwide. Firms that transition to a decarbonised world typically gain exposure to faster growth and enhanced returns. The large proportion of regulated or fully contracted activities makes future cashflows highly predictable, and such assets are less risky than the traditional commodity-driven investment model. Ecofin invests in global infrastructure through both closed-end and open-ended vehicles, with the Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure Trust listed on the London Stock Exchange. Three main themes are currently dominating the sector. One is the crucial role of power networks, which makes National Grid (LSE: NG) worth a look. Huge investment is required to…

While you’re rummaging around searching for Star Wars figures (see left), keep an eye out for any Pokémon cards, first released in 1996. The colourful playing cards, featuring fantastic animals with special powers, continue to fetch high prices despite being launched almost 30 years ago. That has not gone unnoticed by certain criminal elements. In January, burglars broke into a shop selling trading cards in San José, California, making off with 35,000 Pokémon cards. And at the end of April in Pokémon’s home market of Japan, a yakuza boss was arrested with 25 stolen cards in his possession, notes Le Monde. A Pokémon-related crime wave has been raging across the country since at least 2022, encouraged by the high prices the cards continue to fetch. In Staffordshire last week, a…

St. George, a wealthy suburb of Baton Rouge – a Bible Belt city in the Deep South state of Louisiana – has won the right to receive city status after a 12-year legal battle. The community remains divided, says Megan Agnew in The Sunday Times. Opponents argue that the new city will be “elitist, racist and protectionist, and that [city status] will exacerbate existing segregation” in the wider parish by allowing it to hold on to more of its tax dollars at the expense of poor, mostly black, residents, who will live outside the new city boundaries. Proponents see it as “exercising their absolute democratic and constitutional rights”. The campaign began after wealthier parents set out to create their own school district, “ring-fenced” from a public-school system where grades were…

First Shell, now Total. Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan sent shock waves through the City of London last month when he hinted that he could move the oil giant’s listing to New York, says Stanley Reed in The New York Times. Now the boss of French oil giant TotalEnergies has made similar waves in Paris, saying that the board has to “seriously look at” the idea of shifting its main listing to New York. BP has so far “sounded cooler” on the idea of a move, says Carol Ryan in The Wall Street Journal. Shares in European energy giants “trade at a 45% discount to their US peers as a multiple of projected cash flows” on average. Low valuations put these firms on the financial back foot when bidding against US…

US investor Bill Ackman has restyled himself as an anti-woke “provocateur”, says Liz Hoffman in Semafor. The Wall Street billionaire has grabbed headlines with harsh critiques of groupthink at US universities and corporate diversity initiatives. Retail investors can tap into Ackman’s hedge-fund expertise through Pershing Square Holdings, a fund listed in London and Amsterdam. Pershing slumped to a 35% discount to net asset value last September after some questionable bets, but the discount has closed fast since Ackman’s political sallies turned the little-known fund into a “right-wing meme stock”, with Pershing gaining $1bn in value in a month: the passions inflamed by US culture wars can actually move markets.…

International Airlines Group, the owner of British Airways, expects another record summer thanks to “unrelenting demand” from holidaymakers, says Philip Georgiadis in the Financial Times. The “buoyant” summer forecasts came as IAG revealed that people seeking winter sun in the Caribbean boosted first-quarter earnings. Operating profits before exceptional items rose more than sevenfold year on year to €68m. Still, while demand for flying in Europe and across the Atlantic is “booming”, IAG admits that conflict in the Middle East means revenues per passenger declined on routes to Asia and Africa. IAG’s first-quarter results appear “promising”, with the board highlighting lower fuel costs, increased capacity and a stronger balance sheet, too, says AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. But“it’s not all plain sailing”, especially since BA will “have benefited from Easter falling earlier…

German drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel could return to the stockmarket in the autumn if it does not receive high enough bids for a sale, says Reuters. An initial public offering (IPO) in Frankfurt, valuing Stada at €10bn, is being prepared by private-equity owners Bain Capital and Cinven, who have yet to decide how much of their stakes they intend to sell. Stada spun off its Russian operations in December, a step considered necessary before selling the company owing to war-related sanctions against Moscow. Bain and Cinven bought Stada in 2017 for €5.3bn, taking one of the last independent generic drug firms in Europe private.…

● “The flight of the Concord has been in the wings for ten days” since rival bidder Blackstone tabled a $1.30-a-share offer for Hipgnosis Songs Fund, says Alistair Osborne in The Times. But Concord Chorus, a US music-rights firm that made a $1.25 bid and has now decided not to try to beat Blackstone’s offer, has done Hipgnosis’s shareholders a favour. Hipgnosis had been “spinning dud after dud” under its investment adviser, Hipgnosis Song Management, chaired by Merck Mercuriadis (pictured) and majority-owned by Blackstone. Blackstone would not have “paid up if Concord hadn’t made a proper ding-dong of it”. ● “Flotation flops in the UK tend to be remembered for years, whereas... disasters in New York are quietly forgotten,” says Nils Pratley in The Guardian. Cazoo, a British used-car website,…

Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy, Jefferies “India is the best equity story in the world on a ten-year view,” says Christopher Wood, the veteran equity strategist and long-standing India bull, in a recent research note. India’s stockmarket value will more than double to $10trn within the next decade, from $4.3trn today, primarily driven by domestic flows. Over the last ten years, the government headed by prime minister Narendra Modi has delivered “fundamental structural reform, which has created the framework for the country to realise its full potential in terms of taking advantage of its intellectual and physical capital as well as its positive demographics”, says Wood. India has invested vast amounts in infrastructure, which has greatly improved logistics and the efficiency of the economy; reformed its insolvency and…

unherd.com It has been 30 years since the opening of the Channel Tunnel rail link between Britain and the European continent, says Jonathan Glancey. “Politically, technically, financially and culturally”, the “chunnel” was a “profound achievement”. A Royal Mail stamp marked the occasion and the queen was among the first passengers. Given the state of our trains today, it is “extraordinary” to think that the tunnel was a privately financed venture. Construction costs may have risen by 80%, from a planned £2.6bn to £4.65bn (in 1985 prices), but it was, unlike the fiscally “incontinent” HS2, successfully completed within just a few years. In 2009, shareholders were paid their first dividend. The tunnel remains “a symbol of what can be done”. How might we revive the spirit of 1994? How about a…

Dazzled by yields that are both the highest for more than 15 years and higher than inflation, many investment advisors have been urging anyone who will listen to buy government bonds. This certainly suits governments, who have plenty of bonds to sell to finance yawning budget deficits. But does it make sense for investors? With inflation falling, the argument goes, interest rates have peaked and will soon start to decline, helping bond yields fall further and give bondholders capital gains (bond prices move inversely to yields). US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said in early March that inflation was “not far” from where it needs to be to justify rate cuts and similar hints have been made in the UK and Europe. But doubts are growing. Far from falling to…

Used car prices have risen by roughly 30% in four years, writes Ruth Emery. Here’s how to get the most for your motor. Firstly, mileage matters. According to online car-marketplace Carwow, each time your car goes 20,000 miles it loses 20% of its value. “But when you get to 60,000 miles, more value is lost – with car prices dropping around 27% compared with what they were worth at 50,000. This could be because the industry standard car warranty lasts for three years, or until a car reaches 60,000 miles, whichever is sooner,” says John Rawlings, Carwow’s consumer editor. So change cars before you eclipse the costly 60,000-mile barrier. Repair any damage before the sale. “A car with a good recent service history and MOT will be worth more, too.…

● The poor savings rates offered by the six big banks mean small firms are missing out on more than £200m of interest each month on their deposits. The big banks dominate the market for business savings accounts in the UK, but rarely pay competitive rates of interest; by switching to more competitive challengers, small businesses could net billions of pounds of extra interest each year, data from Allica Bank shows. ● More than half of small companies are relying on credit such as overdrafts and credit cards to pay insurance premiums, says Premium Credit. It’s a way for firms to spread the cost of insurance, but analysts point out that this will mean firms face extra costs in addition to their premiums, with interest charges adding up. ● Small…

Companies often merge with others; sometimes, however, they split. One way for a company to get rid of an unwanted business is simply to sell it off to someone else, such as another firm or an investment fund. The cash raised in this manner can be used to help the remaining business, either through reinvestment, paying down debt, or financing a dividend or buybacks. But this can annoy shareholders if they think that the company is being sold too cheaply. As a result, some firms choose to pursue a spin-off. While the company still splits apart, the shareholders receive shares in the new company in proportion to their holdings in the parent company, with the two firms listed separately. This way, the shareholders can decide for themselves whether to keep…

In an auction house far, far away – Texas, to be precise – a collection of Star Wars memorabilia is heading for sale with Heritage Auctions (HA) on 31 May. Leading the way is a tiny three-and-three-quarter-inch toy action figure of Boba Fett, the bounty hunter from the sci-fi film series with – at least in this auction – a “hefty price on his head”, according to the auctioneers. Naturally, this isn’t any old Boba Fett toy. In 1979, TV adverts invited kids to claim their free Boba Fett action figure, made by toy company Kenner – so long as they (or rather, their parents) bought four other Star Wars action figures. But what made the Boba Fett figure “super cool” was that it was able to “fire” a rocket.…

“We need to see more evidence that inflation will stay low before we can cut interest rates,” says Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, but “I’m optimistic things are moving in the right direction”. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has again held interest rates at their 16-year high of 5.25%, but speculation is growing that a rate cut is just around the corner, either at the next meeting in June or later in the summer. Annual UK inflation fell to 3.2% in March, the lowest level since September 2021. Inflation peaked at more than 11% in October 2022, a 40-year high, says Michael Race for BBC News. The Bank began the current rate-hiking cycle in December 2021, with rates paused at a high plateau of 5.25% since last summer. Financial…

The fast-fashion group Shein, valued at $66bn in a fundraising round last year, is preparing to list in London, says The Guardian. Its attempt to float in New York earlier this year faced “regulatory hurdles and pushback from US lawmakers”. The news comes on the heels of warnings from the China Securities Regulatory Commission that it “would not recommend” a listing in the US. As a result, the online retailer may now file with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as soon as this month. London may be Shein’s “second choice”, but the news will be welcomed by both the government and the London Stock Exchange, which have both been “pedalling hard to attract” fresh initial public offerings (IPOs), says Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdown. Still, despite the boost for the…

Six to buy Alcon The Telegraph Alcon, the world’s biggest producer of contact lenses and equipment used in eye operations, has enjoyed impressive growth since it was spun out of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis in 2019. Its underlying earnings before interest and tax have climbed by more than 50%. It has invested more in research and development (R&D), helping it launch new products. The shares are not cheap on 25 times forecast earnings, but their appeal lies in the scope for “highly profitable growth over many years to come”. CHF72 Domino’s Pizza The Sunday Times Shares in Domino’s Pizza have declined by 13% since January, but the pizza chain is opening 70 new branches this year and saw a 37% jump in orders through its app in the first quarter…

Georgia’s government has pushed through a foreign-agents law in the face of international condemnation. Despite 30 days of protests by hundreds of thousands in the capital, the government has mandated that media or civil society groups that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad will have to register as organisations serving the interests of a foreign power. The government argues the law is “no different” from similar laws in other countries, such as the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, says Marc Bennetts in The Times. But the Georgian law goes further than most in that it requires media organisations that receive overseas funding, but are not acting on behalf of a foreign government, to declare themselves foreign agents. Analysts think the new law is part of a “Kremlin-inspired”…

The relentless focus on the tech sector means you could be forgiven for thinking the US has been by far the top-performing stockmarket in the last few years – but it’s not. While America has done extremely well, there are a handful of countries beating it. Most of these are small markets or special situations, but there are a couple of exceptions, of which India is the most notable. India has had an unusually good run since the pandemic, especially for foreign investors. While this is a market that has frequently delivered high – but volatile – nominal returns, it’s also suffered from high inflation and persistent currency depreciation. In 1994, one pound bought around 50 rupees. Today, it’s around 105. As a result, returns for a British investor haven’t…

The big-tech scramble for energy Editorial The Economist Big tech needs “a lot more” computing power and is investing heavily to get it, says The Economist. In the first quarter, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft invested a total of $40bn, mostly in data centres to deal with growing artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. According to JPMorgan Chase, Alphabet, Amazon’s cloud arm, Meta and Microsoft consumed 90TWh of electricity in 2022, as much as Colombia. Tech titans also want their energy to be “clean”. “Combined with rising demand from increasingly electrified transport, heating and parts of heavy industry,” this is putting strain on electricity producers and distributors. Since utilities have “neither the money nor the appetite” to make the required grid investments (which need to rise to $800bn a year by…

lawliberty.org Despite a modest rise in interest in the subject in the wake of the financial crisis, it is “painfully obvious” that the understanding of economic history is “still lacking in many circles”, says Peter Coclanis. A recent study of the economic effects of untreated presbyopia – the age-related inability to focus on nearby objects – in developing countries illustrates this point. The study involved a randomised controlled trial in rural Bangladesh, and the aim was to see how simple, inexpensive interventions could boost incomes. The main finding was that participants given free reading glasses reported earnings about 33% higher than those who had received no glasses. In other words, glasses improve both the vision and the income of poor Bangladeshi workers. It was reported as if it was a…

A trust that trades at a discount to net asset value (NAV) of 15% or more may represent a great opportunity to buy into a thesis that is out of favour, a good long-term manager going through a tough patch, or just a market in the doldrums. A return to form by the manager, a return to favour by the sector, or an increasingly optimistic outlook by investors promises outsized returns as the discount narrows. But when the discount is more than 30%, investors should be wary. The manager may have made mistakes with his investments, or there could be a structural flaw in his thesis. Another potential problem is that the trust contains too much debt; alternatively, its focus may be too esoteric and illiquid for interest to return.…

Small companies’ growth prospects are being undermined by unfair practices in the banking sector, including ongoing problems with debanking, according to a new report from MPs. Several hundred thousand small firms have had their accounts closed by their banks in recent years, making it very difficult for them to continue trading. While many of the closures have been concentrated in sectors where banks are anxious about the potential for wrongdoing – including defence, pawnbroking and amusement machines – most debanking incidents do not appear to relate to actual misdemeanours. Often, banks appear to be looking for an excuse to close accounts, campaigners warn – such as a small company failing to complete routine paperwork on time. Moreover, every sector of the economy has seen account closures. MPs say small businesses…

The UK has some of the most exciting and successful technology businesses in Europe, but they’re often overlooked. Many investors and analysts tend to focus on the so-called Magnificent Seven US tech giants, which dominate the global tech sphere. But here in the UK, we also have a number of companies that are leading the charge in their respective fields. They’re often overlooked because investors don’t understand their current technological story and prowess as they have shifted their business models and investors haven’t quite caught up. A great example is the emerging artificial-intelligence (AI) group Sage (LSE: SGE). It has been a mainstay of the UK tech industry for decades, and for most of that time it sold accountancy software to clients on a CD. Clients would buy the initial…

It has been a mixed week for my nine long tips, with four rising and five declining. Investment and share-trading platform IG Group rose from 745p to 784p, Rolls-Royce Holdings increased from 413p to 420p and SSP went up to 221p. High-street clothing retailer Next also rose, from 9,178p to 9,276p. Recruitment specialist SThree decreased from 435p to 433p, easyJet dipped to 525p and General Motors decelerated from $46.04 to $45.17. US building-materials supplier Builders FirstSource fell from $187 to $167 while Hollywood Bowl slipped from 345p to 341p. My long tips are now making overall profits of £1,216. Sadly, my four short tips didn’t do as well, with three out of four moving against me. Video-game retail chain GameStop shot up from $11.29 to $30.45, above the $14 at…

Economic advisers to Donald Trump presented the former president earlier this year with a shortlist of potential candidates to lead the Federal Reserve should Trump win this year’s presidential election, says The Wall Street Journal. One of the three suggested was Arthur Laffer (pictured), an economic adviser to Ronald Reagan, one of the founding theorists of supply-side economics and a champion of the tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017. Laffer is best known for the moment in 1974 when he drew a line on a napkin – now known as the “Laffer curve” – showing that tax rises do not necessarily lead to higher tax revenues because the rise discourages the activity taxed and encourages tax avoidance. Trump has not committed himself, but Laffer has. When asked about…

The name Giacosa sends shivers down my spine. One of a handful of genuinely stellar producers in Barbaresco and Barolo, in Piemonte in northwest Italy, this estate is world-famous for its etichetta rosso (red label) wines. Giacosa’s Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva and Barbaresco Asili Riserva are some of the most collectable wines on Earth, and they cost a bomb, so the only way that I manage to drink them is to visit the region, order them in the most wonderful restaurants and close my eyes when the bill arrives. If you want to indulge in Giacosa wines in the UK, you must talk to Armit, because they are the nominated importers here. I have picked out three wines that I feel represent terrific value for money so that…

Going… Eleven watches belonging to Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone (pictured) are heading for auction with Sotheby’s in New York on 5 June. Stallone assembled the collection over 20 years, and it includes prestigious brands – including Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Piaget. The “undisputed centrepiece” of the collection, however, is the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime – “an exquisite and highly coveted masterpiece of haute horology”, says the auction house. Coveted by collectors, the Reference 6300G Grandmaster Chime will be making its first appearance at auction, where it is expected to fetch between $2.5m and $5m. It is, says Sotheby’s, “’the ultimate champion’ of modern watchmaking”. Gone… The pocket watch that business magnate John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest man aboard the Titanic, was wearing when the ocean liner sank sold late…