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Human beings make poor investors. Evolution has programmed us to survive, and none of the instincts conducive to survival help us make sensible long-term decisions. Our tendency to exchange information and gossip ensured that we thrived when we crawled out of the sea, but it now means we might listen to investment advice on Twitter. Similarly, panicking and running when faced with danger is helpful for avoiding woolly mammoths, but also prompts us to pull our money out of the market after sharp declines, when it would make more sense to buy in preparation for the rebound. Back the home team One market many investors feel jittery about at present is the British one, which has made scant progress in the past few years and as of last week is…

“[Economists assume] a stable relationship between aggregate demand, aggregate supply, wages and prices... But... these relationships are anything but stable... [for example] it is unclear how [the] labour supply will evolve as pandemic-related distortions fade... this makes it extremely difficult to judge... the threat of a price-wage spiral... [So] central banks are putting less weight on their forecasts and more on actual inflation... without the conviction of a model... it’s unlikely that central banks will be able accurately to flag a peak in rates – much less a pivot – in advance... since monetary policy operates with a lag, putting more weight on actual inflation... raises the risk of over-tightening... if central banks don’t know how far to raise rates to squeeze out inflation then there’s something wrong with our...…

In February 2000 Vodafone’s value soared to £228bn, says Alistair Osborne in The Times. Over the following two decades it has fallen back to £26.4bn. “Lacklustre half-year figures” released on 15 November sent the shares down to a 25-year low of 25p. Vodafone cut its earnings forecasts, blaming higher energy costs and poor performances in Germany, Italy and Spain. Boss Nick Read (pictured), who has been in charge since 2018, acknowledges that “telecoms has proved itself a value-destructive industry”. Big investments in “fixed-line broadband and pricey 3G, 4G and 5G spectrum auctions” have been accompanied by falling prices: good for consumers, but leading to “unsustainably low returns on capital” for investors. Investors are tired of the board’s repeated claims that “a breakthrough lies just around the corner” only for more…

Shares in logistics-technology group Jungheinrich, whose offerings range from forklifts to fully automated warehouses, have fallen sharply over the past year due to the discouraging macroeconomic outlook, says WirtschaftsWoche. But this looks like an overreaction. Jungheinrich has managed to absorb higher costs and energy prices, while orders are on the rise. As companies attempt to save costs they are increasingly investing in automation. The group’s electric forklifts are also proving popular. Sales grew by 12.5% in the first nine months of 2022 as operating earnings rose by 3%. The shares are on a price/earnings (p/e) ratio of 12, compared with a long-term average of 15.…

Politics & economics The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish government does not have the legal authority to hold an independence referendum without Westminster’s consent, “scuppering Edinburgh’s plan to hold a vote next year”, say Lukanyo Mnyanda and Jane Croft in the Financial Times. This means that Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, will not be allowed to unilaterally hold a rerun of the 2014 referendum in which 55% of Scots voted to remain in the UK. After the ruling, Sturgeon said that she was disappointed and that the next UK election would now become a “de-facto referendum” on independence. She added that the ruling itself strengthened the case for independence: “A law that doesn’t allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster’s consent exposes…

Anyone who argued over the course of the last decade that the launch of the euro or the rise of China would bring an end to the US dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency would have had to revise their opinion over the last few months. The currency has seen one of its strongest bull runs of recent times. The dollar index, which measures its strength against six major free-floating currencies, is up by 12% so far this year, taking it to its highest point in two decades. It rose above €1 per dollar for the first time since the euro’s launch at the start of the century. It drove the pound down to an all-time low of $1.04, sparking turmoil in British politics. It sent the yen to…

A balanced fund is a fund that tries to deliver lower-risk and steadier returns by investing in two or more different asset classes. The standard example is a fund that invests in both stocks and bonds. Stocks are more volatile, but should provide higher long-term returns. Bonds usually provide a stable, fixed rate of return. When the economy is doing well, stocks should outperform bonds. During a slowdown or recession, bonds should hold up better, helping to offset losses from the stock portion of the portfolio. The exact split between stocks and bonds within a balanced fund will depend on how much priority the fund gives to growth and how much to stability and income. However, a split of 60% stocks to 40% bonds has historically been the default choice…

“I worked at Doncaster Rovers as the guy you bought the pies off. We had a little scheme. If the pie fell on the floor, even foil side up, it couldn’t be sold. I didn’t have a lot of money at the time, so a lot went overboard, because the pies were banging.” Singer Louis Tomlinson (pictured), quoted in The Guardian “I don’t believe in being stingy and I’m not afraid to splash out when the occasion calls for it. When I queued for the Queen’s lying-in-state, I handed out smoked salmon sandwiches and passed around my hip flask, which was filled with vintage Somerset Alchemy Cider Brandy.” Lance Forman, boss of smoked salmon and luxury goods group H. Forman & Son, quoted in The Sunday Times “All people are…

spectator.co.uk Let’s hear it for Britain’s “unsung social heroes” – providing unstinting friendship, bringing people together, and saving the health service billions, says Alec Marsh. Yes, the humble pet dog provides a multitude of vital social goods, above and beyond being “cute” and offering companionship without passive aggression or sarcasm. (We have spouses, parents or siblings for that.) Just think of the heart attacks and strokes avoided as a result of twice- or thrice-daily walks that each of this country’s 12.5 million pet dogs requires. “If you’re worried about your weight, don’t get a gastric band, get a Hungarian vizsla.” Even bending down to pick up dog poo (let’s call it “canine faecal yoga”) is good for you. But even more importantly, dogs are vital social “glue” in our atomised…

J anus Henderson manages two flagship investment trusts that never top the performance tables but can be relied upon to generate solid returns with a rising income. Bankers Investment Trust (LSE: BNKR), founded in 1888, invests globally and has £1.5bn of assets. It has been managed since 1993 by Alex Crooke, who was previously the deputy manager. Its shares trade on an 8% discount to net asset value (NAV) and yield a modest 2.4%, but the dividend has been increased every year for 55 years. The management fee is just 0.42%. Returns of 36% over five years are well behind the MSCI World index at 56%, though Bankers was slightly ahead in the previous five, resulting in ten-year returns of 178% versus 216% for the index. “We struggle with stock-picking…

The founder of the Starbucks coffee chain, billionaire entrepreneur Howard Schultz, returned as interim CEO in April this year to revitalise the group amid rising wage and cost pressures, supply-chain difficulties and Covid-related disruption in China, a key market. He has an impressive record, having transformed it from local to global player over nearly 40 years. But he admits that the company has made mistakes recently. Staff welfare (see box below) and product delivery have been recurrent themes; there have been complaints about slow service and run-down stores. With a turnaround now under way and earnings per share set to grow strongly over coming years, if it gets it right, Starbucks could be an opportunity for investors. The share price is down by 14% this year, but Starbucks has outperformed…

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced an extension to the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG), writes Kalpana Fitzpatrick, MoneyWeek’s senior digital editor. But the average household will still see its annual energy bill rise to around £3,000 from April 2023. The EPG was introduced in September to temper households’ soaring energy bills . It meant that the typical household was expected to pay £2,500 as opposed to the predicted £3,549 a year from 1 October. The policy was due to expire in October 2024, but Hunt has brought this forward to April 2023 to save money. Beyond April, he said, it would be “irresponsible for the government to continue exposing the public finances to unlimited volatility in international gas prices”. The EPG will run at a revised rate until April 2024, with…

Could the appointment of new pensions minister Laura Trott signal a change of policy on benefits paid by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)? The government-backed lifeboat scheme, which pays pensions to members of defined-benefits pension schemes whose employers go bust, has been criticised for its rules on annual pension increases. Benefits accrued since 1997 go up in line with inflation each year, up to a maximum of 2.5%, but no such guarantee applies to pension benefits earned before 1997. However, despite rising inflation underlining the problems caused by the anomaly, Trott’s predecessor, Guy Opperman, earlier this year rejected calls from a trade union to change the rules. The union in question, Prospect, used freedom of information requests to establish that while more than 210,000 PPF members had received inflation-linked increases,…

The share price of biotechnology group BSF Enterprise (LSE: BSFA), which listed in May 2022, has rocketed by 83% after the firm reported that it was making progress in creating artificial meat, says Morningstar. The firm announced the cultivation of three small prototype fillets, weighing an average of five grammes. They seared well when pan-fried and became crisp on the surface in a similar way and with similar aromas to barbecued meat. BSF says it expects to produce a full-scale fillet in early 2023 and is also working on artificial leather and animal-free cosmetics. The stock has gained 26% since it listed.…

William Duer was born in Devon in 1743. After Eton he served as an aide-de-camp to Lord Robert Clive, Governor of the East India Company, before inheriting money and land in Dominica upon his father’s death. In 1768 he visited New York on business and became caught up in the War of Independence, becoming a judge and one of the signers of the Articles of Confederation. He also became involved with US finances, working closely with Alexander Hamilton. In 1789 Duer was appointed Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury. What was the scam? In 1791 Duer quit his post and forged a partnership with the wealthy financier Robert Macomb. The plan was to combine Macomb’s money and Duer’s knowledge and connections to make both men a fortune. After initially making…

2020 Teusner, Avatar, Barossa Valley, South Australia (£25.50, reduced to £22.95 each by the case, greatwine.co.uk) At the recent launch of my 100 Best Australian Wines Report, a wine trade rascal asked me why there were 250 wines mentioned in this initiative. Granted, 19 years ago, when I started compiling these annual reports, I stuck religiously to a century of greats. But as the years passed, I found I could not leave out mentions of worthy wines from a winery that gained a headliner in the 100. This year, a couple of talented winemakers have won multiple mentions, including Kym Teusner, with no fewer than six entries, two of which I highlight today. My featured wine, Avatar, is an absolute belter. A tri-varietal “Southern Rhône blend”, this is such an…

The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe Bodley Head, £20 Each industry has a top dog. For consultants, McKinsey tops the list. A job there brings a hefty salary – but, even more importantly, employees can hope to wield huge influence. Its alumni fill the corridors of power. Yet alongside McKinsey’s prestige, the firm also wants to be seen as ethical. It’s deeply proud of a policy that lets individual consultants reject working on clients that they find distasteful. In When McKinsey Comes to Town, Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe of The New York Times argue that this image is largely a sham. They claim that most of McKinsey’s advice boils down to ruthless cost-cutting in all areas; that it is happy…

The government and the press are gnawing on the bones of Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, and his collapsed FTX crypto empire. For some, the story has all the makings of a hit movie. In fact, Michael Lewis of The Big Short fame is already on the case. For others, it offers yet more proof that unfettered capitalism doesn’t work. Instead, they say, everything needs to be regulated to protect the little guys. But in our opinion, US investors are indebted to SBF. He gave us a lesson on how money and markets really work. We all know that a fool and his money are soon parted. And there were so many of them! The list of FTX investors is an exceptionally long and unusually illustrious roll-call of big-name hedge funds.…

CHF2.27bn The total value of exports of Swiss watches in October 2022. Growth has slowed due to decreased demand from China, but exports are still up by 12% in the first ten months of the year and on track for an annual record. £875 The cost of a pair of Apos trainers that will be prescribed by the NHS for people with arthritis. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has said that patients with severe osteoarthritis who are eligible for knee surgery should be offered the special shoes, which are designed to correct walking patterns and reduce knee pain, since this could save almost £2,000 in care costs per person over five years. £370 The daily rate for a two-person accommodation cabin for football fans at the…

Former footballer David Beckham (pictured) has defended his role as a paid ambassador for Qatar – for which he will reportedly receive £150m over ten years – by telling fans that the World Cup there will be a platform for “progress, inclusivity and tolerance”, says the Daily Mirror. Qatar’s role as host of the tournament, which began this week, has been extremely controversial. The country has been criticised for the treatment of workers employed to build the World Cup infrastructure and for wider human-rights violations (homosexuality remains illegal in the country). While the former Manchester United and England star is not the only celebrity paid to promote Qatar, he has drawn more criticism, in part because of his history of supporting gay rights when football was notably homophobic, says The…

Global dividend payouts hit a record $415.9bn in the third quarter, a 7% year-on-year rise, according to the Janus Henderson Global Dividend index. The rise was due to a 75.1% jump in oil producers’ dividends to $46.3bn. Without the oil sector, the global total would have been flat on an annual basis. Janus Henderson thinks that global dividends will hit $1.56trn this year, an 8.9% rise on an underlying basis. The “current exceptional level” of energy industry payouts is unlikely to last given the cyclical nature of oil and gas prices, says Jane Shoemake of Janus Henderson. In 2023, slower global growth is likely to hamper profits and dividends. Still, income seekers will be partly insulated from the profits squeeze, because dividend cover – the ratio of a company’s earnings…

“A speculative boom in the secondhand [watch] market that took off during the pandemic is fizzling out,” says Carol Ryan in The Wall Street Journal. Collectors of sought-after models have long been willing to pay a premium to buy used items, enabling them to skip the waiting lists and hassle of purchasing from the limited stock of new luxury watches that are released each year. During Covid-19 these once modest markups reached “extreme levels”. As recently as March, used Rolex Daytonas were going for $47,000, compared to $14,550 for the store-bought version. Yet now the high prices have roughly doubled the supply of secondhand Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet watches, depressing prices.…

Tesla shares have fallen to a two-year low, says Howard Smith for The Motley Fool. The electriccarmaker’s shares have slid by 40% over the past three months as boss Elon Musk has sold some of his holdings to finance his acquisition of social-media site Twitter. News of new Covid-19 restrictions in China have also spooked investors: Tesla’s biggest plant is in Shanghai. A recall of 321,000 vehicles in the US because of rear-light problems has only added to this week’s woes. On a trailing price/earnings (p/e) ratio of more than 50, the valuation “doesn’t give investors much leeway” to absorb bad news. Tesla says it has “no reports of any crashes or injuries related to the recall”, which it plans to fix wirelessly, says Sky News. Recalls are not rare:…

Germany’s Cantourage, which sells cannabis sourced from 40 cultivators in 15 countries, launched an initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt stock exchange last week. Trading under the ticker symbol HIGH, the shares rocketed by more than 130% on their first day of trading, says Bloomberg. Although the firm has hitherto focused on medical cannabis, Germany’s impending legalisation of the drug for recreational use has encouraged the group to raise money to fund expansion. According to Cantourage, Germany’s recreational pot market could be worth between €4bn and €7bn. The European medical cannabis market is expected to be worth in excess of €2bn by 2026.…

● Burberry’s new CEO Jonathan Akeroyd has an opportunity to create a stronger rival to “super-luxe” groups such as France’s LVMH, says Andrea Felsted on Bloomberg. “Making more of Burberry’s Britishness – a key plank of Akeroyd’s strategy – is long overdue”: it will give the firm “more of a coherent identity.” Boosting sales of leather goods such as handbags – where highly regarded creative director Daniel Lee has a strong record – will help margins (successful bags can enjoy gross margins of over 80%). Still, there is a lot riding on this revival. Get it right and the company could be in a position to snap up other “heritage names”, such as Mulberry. But if it fails to gain traction, Burberry – one of the few high-end brands that…

“In ten years, Tesla will be the largest and most profitable company in the world,” reckons Ron Baron, the billionaire US fund manager known for big bets on growth stocks. Baron’s firm runs 19 funds with almost $40bn in assets and several of those are keeping large positions in the electric-car maker, says Forbes. The $700m Baron Focused Growth Fund currently holds 45% of its portfolio in Tesla’s shares, while 11% of total assets under management in Baron-run funds are invested in the stock. Tesla’s shares have fallen by 50% over the past 12 months, contributing to a 23% drop in the Focused Growth Fund, but Baron is undeterred. “If I could, I would buy more,” he told a meeting of his investors earlier this month. His optimism is based…

city-journal.org The fanaticism and quasi-religious zeal of many in the cryptocurrency world has been well documented, says Malcolm Kyeyune. But it’s not just crypto. One of the “great under-explored effects” of the 2008 financial crisis is the collapse of Western society’s “model sequence” by which people derive social esteem via work, and the concomitant rise of “strange new quasi-faiths” online offering alternative routes to affirmation. Crypto is one such cult, but there are many other expressions of this latter-day Gnosticism (the early-Christian belief system based on overcoming the material world’s corruption and rekindling divinity via spiritual knowledge). “Through ritual, through secret knowledge, through purification and removal of the self from the corrupting influence of fiat money, or patriarchy, or... seed oils... the individual seekers hope to find enlightenment”. Today’s world…

■ Personal Assets Trust has reduced its investment in stocks to the lowest level since the global financial crisis, says This Is Money. The capital-preservation trust now has just a quarter of its portfolio in equities, 58% in US and UK government bonds and 9% in gold. Stockmarket falls so far have been driven by the impact of higher interest rates on valuations, but tighter monetary policy is increasing the risk of a recession in which company earnings will fall as well, says manager Sebastian Lyon (pictured). “Those are still to come in 2023. This bear market has further to run.” ■ Growth-focused trust Chrysalis saw its NAV drop by 41% in the year to September, says The Times. The biggest drag on returns was an 85% fall in the…

● “Drivers who buy an electric car could find themselves paying more road tax than someone who owns an old banger under the chancellor’s plans to end the exemptions currently enjoyed by zero-emission vehicles,” says Richard Evans in The Telegraph. From 2025 owners of electric cars will pay vehicle-excise duty for the first time. The tax in the first year for a low-emission car is £10; it then rises to £165. However, someone with an expensive electric vehicle could find themselves paying far more than that. This is because at present they benefit from an exemption to a £355 annual surcharge aimed at pricey cars, but this will disappear in 2025, too. The upshot? A jump in their annual car tax bill from zero to £520. This “Tesla tax” could…

● Tens of thousands of pension savers are still being forced to claim tax refunds each year because HM Revenue & Customs’ systems can’t cope with pension freedom rules. The total tax refunded since the reforms came into effect in 2015 has now reached £925m, new figures from consultant Lane Clark & Peacock reveal. The problem hits savers making a large withdrawal from their pension funds under the pension freedom rules. HMRC’s systems often assume this withdrawal will be a regular one and therefore tax the money at far higher rates than are actually due. Ministers appear content to leave the anomaly in place, requiring savers to claim a refund. ● Some 237,000 Britons over the state-pension age are owed £1.46bn, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveals, with…

Shares in Australian fund manager Magellan Financial (Sydney: MFG) have slumped by 85% from their all-time highs in 2020 (and by 67% in a year), says The Motley Fool. Co-founder Hamish Douglass took a medical leave of absence from the firm in February 2022 and sold two-thirds of his stake earlier this month, although he said that he will not sell any additional shares for 12 months. The firm has lost several high-profile investing mandates from institutional clients. The board has recently proposed doubling a cap on pay for non-executive directors despite the firm’s recent poor performance.…

Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine Mark Galeotti Osprey, £25 Veneration of the army has “become one of the central pillars of Russian national identity in the two decades since Vladimir Putin first became president”, says Peter Conradi in The Sunday Times. However, it’s not clear “whether this veneration is deserved”, given that it didn’t prevent Russia’s war against Ukraine getting off to a “disastrous start” and things have “clearly not gone to plan since”. So those interested in the roots of Russia’s woes would do well to read this new book from political scientist Mark Galeotti, a specialist in Russian security and transnational crime, which looks at the Russian army “through the prism of the various conflicts in which the country has been embroiled since the break-up of…

Six years ago, before the Brexit vote, British stocks were worth $1.5trn more than French ones, says Sommer Saadi on Bloomberg. This month the French stockmarket edged past London, reaching a value of $2.823trn valuation compared with the UK’s $2.821trn to become Europe’s biggest equity market. “It’s a sign of Britain’s shrinking place in global finance.” The FTSE 100 has gone nowhere in five years, while France’s CAC 40 is up by 25%, says Bastien Bouchaud in Les Echos. The Paris bourse has been boosted by luxury giants such as LVMH, now Europe’s biggest listed firm. Meanwhile, firms such as Ryanair and miner BHP have bid adieu to London. The fall in sterling, down 11% against the euro since early 2016, has also hit UK valuations when translated into other…

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is back in his old job, almost three years after stepping down. Bob Chapek, his successor, had a rocky two-year stint during which he faced the pandemic, managed to pick a “public fight with actress Scarlett Johansson, lost the confidence of senior staff who plotted to get rid of him and… oversaw a 40% share-price drop” this year, says Alistair Osborne in The Times. Curiously, the Disney board renewed Chapek’s contract in June, but now he has been unceremoniously “ejected from the Magic Kingdom… talk about a Mickey Mouse company”. Iger will take over for two years to right the ship and have another go at picking a successor. Chapek’s dismissal was so abrupt that he wasn’t given “so much as a quote in the…

Six to buy Antofagasta Investors’ Chronicle Chilean copper miner Antofagasta remains “a good horse to pick for the energy transition”. Copper prices are likely to continue increasing owing to the metal’s key role in electric-vehicle production and renewable-energy systems. Antofagasta sits on “significant reserves and has already put billions into the future of its mines”. Though 2023 might be “leaner” due to higher costs and an increase in Chile’s mining tax, there is “value for the longer term”. 1,306p Atome Energy The Sunday Times Atome Energy is the “only pure-play green hydrogen and green ammonia producer listed in London”. It will soon receive equipment for a site near a hydroelectric dam in Paraguay, where it should start producing green hydrogen before the end of next year, meaning “revenues will start…

Very few investments have done well in real (inflation-adjusted) terms in 2022, showing once again that high inflation and weak growth are one of the most difficult environments for protecting your capital. For example, cash has held steady in nominal terms, but with consumer price inflation running at 11% in the UK, you’re about 8%-9% down in real terms even if you’ve got the highest interest rates over the past year. That’s reflected in the performance of the MoneyWeek all-weather ETF portfolio – a collection of major asset classes that can be held through cheap exchange traded funds (ETFs). The aim of this strategy is to beat inflation over the long term with considerably less volatility than stocks. On a short-term view, it’s certainly failed this year. The portfolio is…

A new approach to work Gillian Tett Financial Times Research from McKinsey suggests that up to 40% of people are thinking about quitting, often to find “non-traditional work”, says Gillian Tett. The key reason for this, it seems, is a desire to control “how and where work happens” and ensure it aligns with our values. This may be a short-term effect of Covid-19 and workers may become less demanding as recession hits. But for now firms are sufficiently fretful about the “quiet rebellion” to be more accommodating – even as outliers such as Elon Musk, who has just banned homeworking, crack the whip. The factor that Musk and his ilk seem to have overlooked is that the “rise in digital technologies goes hand in hand with a subtle but crucial…

capx.co Why are older UK workers quitting the labour market? Since early 2020, the number of “economically inactive” 50-64 year-olds has surged by more than 300,000. That’s a big worry for the government, says Scott Corfe. Given the fiscal squeeze, the last thing it needs is an inflationary labour shortage and hundreds of thousands of people no longer paying as much in income tax. To see what’s driving the phenomenon, the Public First think tank compared international data. A key finding is that (contrary to much of the media narrative) just 16% of inactive 50-64 year-old Britons give long-term sickness or disability as their main reason for quitting. Most instead cite early retirement or family responsibilities. “Gains from rocketing house prices in the UK seem part of the story,” with…

Earlier this month Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) reported that group revenue rose by 22% to £17bn and statutory profits before tax (PBT) gained 48% to £1.1bn in the year to mid-September 2022. Within that, food sales are growing 10%, whereas Primark (just under half of sales) saw revenues climb by 43% as the prior year was affected by lockdowns. Aside from Primark, ABF is split into four food divisions (grocery, sugar, agriculture and ingredients). ABF’s largest food division, grocery, 22% of revenue and 26% of adjusted group profits, reports a return on capital of 29%. It includes bread, cakes and breakfast cereal, but also Twinings tea. Food-price inflation meant margins declined slightly to 10.7% as there is a delay in passing on the price of wheat and energy costs.…

Hedge fund TCI is calling on Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to take “aggressive action” to cut costs, including laying off employees, says Bloomberg. Alphabet’s total number of employees has risen by 20% a year since 2017, which is “excessive, both in relation to historic headcount growth and what the business requires”, said TCI in a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai. TCI, which owns $6bn of Alphabet shares (around 0.5%), also urged Pichai to cut back on investments in new and emerging technology, citing self-driving car unit Waymo as an example. “Waymo has not justified its excessive investment and its losses should be reduced dramatically,” the fund said.…

We are already grappling with the soaring cost of living and the prospect of a long recession. To make matters worse, we will now have to hand over more money to the taxman. In his Autumn Statement, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a series of allowance freezes, spending cuts and tax increases worth £55bn. So how exactly will these affect your tax bill? Income tax In a bid to rake in more from those who earn more, Hunt lowered the threshold at which the 45% tax rate kicks in. It previously applied to earnings over £150,000 but from April, the 45% tax will be charged on income over £125,140. This will remain the case until 2028. The 20% income tax rate, paid on anything earned over £12,570, and the 40% income…

The chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week contained no new restrictions on pension tax relief. But that doesn’t mean savers got away scot-free. Previously announced freezes in the annual and lifetime allowance (LTA) remain in place. They are due to run until at least the 2025-2026 tax year. And that means more people than ever risk being caught out. To start with the annual allowance, the standard cap on annual contributions to private pensions remains at £40,000. That figure includes your own contributions, but also anything paid by an employer, and the value of tax relief. If you exceed the allowance, you must declare the excess on your annual self-assessment tax return. There will be tax to pay at your highest marginal rate of income tax. For those with pension contributions…

Our investment process is orientated towards small-cap value stocks in Asia. The three key characteristics we look for while investing are as follows. First, the company should have a good product that customers want and are ready to pay for, so that the business can make a high return on capital (a key gauge of profitability). Second, it should be managed by honest and competent people. Third, it should be available at a good price, which means it should offer enough of a margin of safety to take into account accidents, adverse events and mistakes. Most of Fidelity Asian Values’ capital is deployed in small-cap value stocks in Asia. Despite recent outperformance, small-cap value stocks are trading at a significant discount to growth stocks – even greater than the gap…