Innehållsförteckning för 1177 från MoneyWeek

“There’s always someone worse off than you”, parents tell their children to stop them moaning. In investment, too, that is often a comforting thought. We are wired to fear losses more than we enjoy gains; by the same token, it is a great relief to avoid falling assets (and see others suffer from them instead). That occurred to me this week as I pondered the fate of the JPMorgan Emerging Europe, Middle East & Africa Securities investment trust. It would be hard to imagine investing in three less stable regions, given the Ukraine war, the fighting in Israel and Gaza, and the series of coups in Africa. But if you think that’s unfortunate, then consider that until late last year, the fund was known as the JPMorgan Russian Securities trust,…

“Should Xi Jinping [invade Taiwan]... the resulting sanctions would cause... chaos, stranding capital [inside China]... It is tempting... for Western investors to... conclude that China is just too troublesome to think about... [it] does not have a particularly large presence in equity indices... [In] MSCI’s broadest index of global stocks... [it comprises] just 3%... Investors might easily be able to screen out Chinese stocks. [Yet] they cannot so easily escape the pull of the world’s second superpower... For semiconductor firms, such as Nvidia, this year’s star performer... 28% [of revenue comes from China]... It is... impossible to construct a portfolio that will benefit from global growth [but] also lacks exposure to China... anything to do with technology, commodity prices, inflation... or any country dependent on the world’s second-biggest economy brings…

Birkenstocks may have been “seriously unfashionable” in the past, but fans of the “frumpy sandal” have now been vindicated as the German shoemaker “tries to bank its now mainstream appeal with a multibillion-pound listing” in New York, says Zoe Wood in the Guardian. But the “glare of the stockmarket” is “not always a comfortable place for private companies – even those with a long record of success”, as the experience of Allbirds and Dr. Martens has proven. Nonetheless, the company’s plans “to become a shoe brand for all seasons”, with a wider range of offerings, seem to be working so far. Sales of the Boston leather clog “have on average doubled every year since 2020”. L Catterton, Birkenstock’s current owner, stands “to more than double its money in a little…

Investors in US markets should remember to look beyond the S&P 500 and explore US small caps, says WirtschaftsWoche. There are plenty of hidden gems in the sector. One to research is DistributionNOW, which has been providing products and services to the oil and gas industry for 160 years. Offerings range from pipes and pumps to storage tanks and measuring equipment. The group has a presence in 20 countries and its range suits the renewable-energy era too, applying to the production of geothermal and hydrogen energy, for instance. The company is debt-free, so it can shrug off higher interest rates, and its return on invested capital is improving.…

For now Israel’s priorities are to deal with Hamas militants, eliminate rocket launch sites (an “almost impossible task”) and obtain the release of an estimated 150 hostages, says the BBC’s Frank Gardner. But its “biggest worry” will be preventing the “conflagration” spreading to the West Bank. So far, the White House is backing Israel to the hilt and describes the attack as “unprovoked”, deliberately “eliding decades of structural violence against Palestinians”, says Noura Erakat in The Guardian. The territory of Palestine consists of Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas and Fatah are the two main Palestinian political parties. While Hamas, which governs Gaza, does not recognise Israel’s statehood and is “committed to its destruction”, Fatah does, and wants a two-state solution, says Danielle Pletka in Foreign Policy. At…

With both main parties having finished their conferences, Labour are still firm favourites to win the next election. With £1.7m matched on Betfair, Labour are at 1.18 (84.7%) to win the most seats, with the Conservatives on 6.2 (16.1%). Similarly, with £1.45m matched, a Labour majority seems the most likely outcome at 1.4 (71.5%), with no overall majority at 4.8 (67.6%) and a Conservative majority at 11.5 (8.7%). It’s very hard to see how Labour could now lose, or even fail to win, the next election, though don’t bet any more money on it, if you’ve already taken my advice. Another bet worth considering though is on Jeremy Corbyn. With £4,367 matched, Smarkets is offering 2.4 (41.7%) on him to be elected an MP at the next election, with 1.32…

Investing in conventional bonds is simple in theory. You’ll get a fixed-interest payment at regular intervals and a fixed amount of principal on maturity. The key risks are that the borrower doesn’t pay what they owe or inflation erodes the value of what you get by more than you expect. In our MoneyWeek exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolio, we normally hold only high-grade government bonds, effectively eliminating the credit risk. We don’t think that corporate bonds bring much to the kind of strategy we are following. If they became exceptionally cheap, we could invest opportunistically, but right now the extra yield you get for taking extra risk in corporate bonds remains remarkably low. So the risk we care about is whether yields are enough to compensate for likely inflation. Until recently,…

The tide will turn for free markets EditorialThe Economist “Homeland economics” – the “protectionist, high-subsidy, intervention-heavy ideology” that has crept up on us – not only “misdiagnoses the problem”, it “overburdens the state” and will “botch” rapid social and technological change, says The Economist. At a time when Western populations are ageing, interest rates are rising and governments need to exercise spending restraint, protectionism is “gobbling up subsidies to boost the energy transition and guarantee the supply of strategic goods”, while households have been given huge handouts. This approach is flawed. Ideas – on energy transition, on artificial intelligence – need to be “tested and channelled by markets”. Excessive regulation will inhibit innovation, raise costs and slow the pace of change. It is harder to withdraw handouts than grant them,…

literaryreview.co.uk For much of the 20th century, economists lost interest in history, says Darrin McMahon. “Beguiled by the notion that theirs was an absolute science amenable to pure mathematical abstraction, they turned their backs on the record of experience.” A new book by Branko Milanovic, Visions of Inequality, “brings time back into the equation”, and traces the development of economic thought, particularly as it relates to income distribution, from the French Revolution through to the Cold War. Inequality was a central concern of early economists, and it came back into fashion after the financial crisis and following the publication of Thomas Piketty’s book on the subject. Milanovic teases out insights from the works of seminal figures to put modern thinking on the subject in a broader context. The result is…

Private education in the UK is widely disparaged as providing schooling for “only 6%” of the population. But its overall impact is much wider. According to the Sutton Trust, more than a quarter of pupils in England and Wales have received private tutoring, including 41% of secondary pupils in London. Many private schools have overseas branches and there are numerous private providers of skills training. With international students accounting for more than 20% of the student population, education and online learning are important and growing export earners for the UK. This is encouraging more competition, higher standards and professional management. The global market for private education is far bigger. This has created attractive opportunities for investors. Private-equity group Oakley Capital, which has €9bn of assets across its funds, is an…

The Bank of England’s aggressive hiking cycle has reignited competition in the UK savings market. Digital banks such as Starling, Monzo and a new player, Kroo, are becoming increasingly vocal and offering highly competitive savings rates compared with incumbent high-street players. Starling recently introduced an interest rate of 3.5% (on the first £5,000) on its current account, while Kroo has gone further than most. From 15 October, it will pay a “tracker” interest rate set at 0.90% below the base rate, which is now at 5.25%. This is a big move as banks tend to highlight one-off rates and then go quiet on further rises. By committing to a tracker rate Kroo is pinning its colours to the mast. Meanwhile, investment app Moneybox is offering a market-leading 5% AER (variable)…

People’s pay has risen at an average rate of 8.5% over the past year, according to official statistics. Many need that extra income to combat the effects of high inflation. But if you’re in a position to do so, shovelling the extra cash into your pension plan could mean your pay rise is worth even more over the longer term. New analysis from the pension consolidation platform PensionBee underlines the point. It argues that thanks to the combined effects of tax relief, investment growth and compound interest, a pay rise today will be worth even more in the years to come if you can put it into your pension. PensionBee’s analysis looked at a 40-year-old man earning an annual salary of around £34,500, the average pay in the UK today,…

I wrote a review of the film Dumb Money last week. It tells the story of the GameStop short squeeze of early 2021. While the short-sellers are portrayed as the big villains, the film isn’t particularly complimentary about the founders of the online trading platform Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) either, thanks to its decision to stop users trading GameStop shares near the height of the bubble. As the film pointed out, the negative publicity generated by the episode had a damaging impact on Robinhood. The group’s stock has fallen by more than 75% since its initial public offering (IPO) in late July 2021. However, worse may be yet to come. When it launched, Robinhood’s unique selling point was that it didn’t charge users a commission for buying and selling shares. This…

“Investors are giving Gooch & Housego little credit for its growth and improvement potential” Odyssean Investment Trust looks to invest in high-quality British businesses trading below their fundamental value, with scope for that value to grow through proactive management action. On this theme, one area where we have been active recently is an unglamorous sector in an unloved part of an undervalued market: UK small-cap industrials. We think the sector hides a number of gems. Within industrials we look for firms with know-how in complex production processes that is hard to replicate, as this offers the opportunity for pricing power and attractive margins. We like companies with a global customer base, reducing reliance on the UK economy and increasing the potential appeal to overseas investors and acquirers. Finally, we like…

2020 Saint-Joseph, Domaine Graeme & Julie Bott, Northern Rhône, France £36.95, reduced to £32.95 each by the case, leaandsandeman.co.uk There is no doubt that fruit clarity, flavour cadence, and underlying freshness are emerging themes in all styles of red wines these days. It doesn’t matter whether a wine is light, medium or indeed a heavyweight; the last thing anyone wants is jammy perfume, a sluggish mid-palate and a lumpy, grainy, alcohol-hot finish. I have always been obsessed with wines that show intensity without weight, persistence without power and whose aftertastes roll on for minutes. This is my definition of fine wine. Inevitably, wines with these traits drink well in their youth, because they are born with balance, and they then evolve and shapeshift throughout their lives, bringing fascination and unexpected…

Rock band Coldplay, fronted by Chris Martin (pictured), are embroiled in a legal battle with their former manager Dave Holmes over £10m in unpaid commissions, says The Sunday Times. Holmes began working with Coldplay in 2005, helping to steer the band towards global success, before leaving the job last year. He claims he is still owed for organising recording sessions, sampling rights, and string arrangements for the band’s unreleased tenth and 11th albums. Coldplay has launched a countersuit for £14m in damages, accusing Holmes of having abused his position by taking two loans (totalling $30m at preferential rates) from Live Nation, a ticket sales company that had worked with the band to fund a “profitable” property development venture in Canada. Coldplay also accuses him of mismanaging their current “Music of…

Rising mortgage rates are starting to bite, says Szu Ping Chan in The Telegraph. The Bank of England estimates that by 2026 around one million households face a monthly mortgage payment increase of £500 or more when current fixed-rate deals end; the average monthly increase will be £220. Estate agent Hamptons forecasts that, come December, 56% of the average single homeowner’s salary will be going towards mortgage costs, a level that recalls the pain felt during the early 1990s housing crash. The Bank of England’s Ben Broadbent says there are signs that the squeeze is having an effect on household spending, prompting some economists to predict a UK “recession beginning at the end of the year”.…

JD Wetherspoon says it has “bounced back to profit for the first time” since Covid struck in 2020, says Mark Sweney in the Guardian. Chalk it up to “budget-conscious consumers” flocking to the low-cost pub chain. It reported a pre-tax profit of almost £43m in the year to 30 July, compared with losses totalling £230m in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But although founder Tim Martin says trading in Wetherspoon’s new financial year has been robust so far, he “was more cautious about prospects for the full year”. As a result, he has decided against reinstating a dividend for investors. One of the key reasons for Martin’s caution is fear of a “tsunami of costs”, says Oliver Bones in the Financial Times. He warns that inflation has made it “verging on…

South Korean robot-maker Doosan Robotics made a spectacular market debut in Seoul last Thursday, says Bloomberg. The shares closed their first day 98% higher, having surged as high as 160% above the listing price throughout the day. South Korea is the world’s top “robot adaptor”, employing one industrial robot for every ten human workers, and both the private and public sectors have increased investment in the sector recently, which has helped stimulate interest among investors. Doosan specialises in producing robotic arms to assist with services ranging from “making coffee and deep-fried chicken to serving beer and handling luggage at an airport”.…

New York Pepsi loses its fizz: Fizzy drinks and snacks giant PepsiCo has “delivered decent quarterly results and a cautiously optimistic outlook”, says Aaron Back in The Wall Street Journal. Organic sales, which exclude the effects of currency movements and mergers, rose 8.8% year on year in the third quarter, while earnings per share also beat estimates, rising 15%. But look a little closer and “the results weren’t quite as strong as they seemed”. Underlying organic volumes actually fell 2.5% in the quarter from a year earlier, “meaning that revenue growth came entirely from price increases”. That can’t go on forever, and investors fear hard-pressed consumers are already cutting back. Rising interest rates are another concern. Traditionally, consumer-staples companies appeal to investors as “dividend plays” thanks to the steady stream…

Kellogg’s no doubt expected its demerger earlier this month to unlock plenty of value for shareholders. After all, splitting out successful units into their own stand-alone companies has a good record of increasing overall returns. The separate business is typically more focused, has its own dedicated management team, and may well prove more attractive to a bidder because it is smaller and cheaper. The logic probably seemed good at the time. And yet the market didn’t like it at all. When it made its debut on Wall Street, the new company, which owns such well-known brands as Pringles, Cheez-It and Pop-Tarts, promptly fell by 7% from the issue price, and carried on weakening for the rest of the week. One reason might have been that, with the development of the…

A bond yield is a measure of the return that an investor will receive on their capital. There are several different ways in which bond yields can be defined, depending on what you are trying to measure. The nominal yield (also called the coupon rate or coupon yield) is the annual interest rate set when the bond is issued. For most coventional bonds, this does not change (floating-rate bonds, where the interest resets periodically to reflect some reference rate, are an exception). Unless you are buying the bond at face value (eg, when it’s first issued), nominal yield doesn’t reflect any return you receive. But it can tell you something about the properties of the bond and how it may behave in different market conditions. The current yield (also known…

“A lot of people were saying: ‘Why are you giving these poor people the comedy courses? What are they going to do with that?’ I think people don’t associate creativity with the working classes, despite the fact that the working classes have been responsible for so much brilliant music, fashion and culture.” Comedian Rachel Fairburn (pictured) on learning her craft from a Labour-government-funded course designed for socially deprived communities, quoted in Metro “We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.” Banksy, quoted on Facebook “After much observation of super-wealthy families, here’s my recommendation: leave the children enough so that they can do anything, but not enough that they can do nothing.” Warren Buffett, quoted in the…

ft.com “The rich, as everyone knows, don’t try to look rich,” say Robert Armstrong and Lauren Indvik. “Real money has nothing to prove… It is comfortable. It wears what it likes.” So we are told. But dressing down is a status move too, and it takes subtlety to do it right and still give a “kabuki performance of moneyed ease and indifference”. Don’t, for example, wear a single costly item that outshines the rest (“a rough formula is that the shoes cost a third of what the suit does, the shirt an eighth”). One trick is to own the best while feigning indifference to it (“Oh, that old thing?”) Another is to display conspicuous wear and tear on expensive items. “In The Talented Mr Ripley, tattered Gucci loafers and carelessly…

Activist investor Nelson Peltz is planning a “fresh push” for board seats at Disney, says The Wall Street Journal. Shares in the entertainment giant have lost more than 50% of their value since the beginning of 2021, and Peltz is now one of its largest investors with a stake worth $2.5bn. Earlier this year the company rebuffed the investor’s attempt to become a director, prompting Peltz to launch a run for a seat on Disney’s board. He backtracked on this attempt after the firm unveiled a broad reorganisation and cost-cutting plan that gave the stock a brief boost. His latest move follows Disney’s decision to spend $60bn on its theme parks, cruise lines and resorts over the next decade.…

● “Drivers are paying up to 27% more to insure an electric car than a petrol or diesel version of the same model,” reports George Nixon in The Times. Comparison site Confused.com says premiums for electric cars rose by 72% in the year to September, compared with a 29% increase for petrol and diesel cars. “Electric vehicles are more complex than vehicles with a standard internal combustion engine, and this means the cost of repairs are often higher, which is a significant factor for insurers when setting premiums,” Jo Lloyd from Axa told The Times. ● If you are considering taking out a new fixed-rate energy deal, make sure you read the small print, says Sam Barker in the Daily Mail. Most of us are on variable-rate energy deals, which…

Savers putting money into a private pension plan naturally focus on the retirement income that they will one day get back. But it’s important not to lose sight of other benefits that pension plans offer, particularly at times when you might be struggling to stick with contributions. Pensions also come with important protection benefits. In particular, your pension can be a good way to sort out life insurance. If you’re a member of a defined-benefit pension scheme, your dependants will normally be entitled to a multiple of your pensionable salary or your earnings – say three or four times’ – if you die before reaching retirement. In a defined-contribution scheme, your dependants are usually entitled to inherit the full value of your pension plan, free from tax, on your death.…

Companies may be eager to issue press releases, but they do not like to put out profit warnings. These are statements that earnings will fall short of expectations. Technically the rules don’t require such alerts. However, not issuing them and leaving the bad news until the formal earnings announcement can leave firms open to charges of market manipulation and risk anger from shareholders. So many companies decide that it is better to be cautious by lowering expectations in advance. According to accounting firm Ernst and Young, which has been tracking warnings of UK registered companies since 1999, a total of 305 warnings were issued in 2022 alone. As you might expect, profit warnings frequently trigger an immediate fall in a firm’s stock price. However, there is evidence that the shares…

“The bond market is in freefall”, says David Brenchley in The Sunday Times. The market for bonds (essentially government and corporate “IOUs”) underpins everything from mortgage and annuity rates to the value of pension funds. Bond prices move inversely to yields, with the latter rising this year alongside central banks’ interest-rate hikes. Despite those rate rises, the world economy has proved “much more resilient than anticipated” this year, with a widely forecast global recession failing to materialise. That has given central bankers the confidence to promise that rates will stay “higher for longer”, causing bond yields to spike. Yields on UK 30-year gilt bonds recently topped 5%, a 20-year high. The yield on the key US ten-year Treasury bond has gone from 0.66% in April 2020 to 4.6% now. “The…

Billions of dollars of global funds are poised to head to India following the country’s inclusion in a key bond index, say Nikunj Ohri and Sarita Chaganti Singh for Reuters. Last month, JPMorgan said that it will integrate India into its Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets, a widely followed bond tracker that is “benchmarked by about $236bn in global funds”. The news is a sign of the rising prominence of the world’s fifth-biggest economy. The index inclusion follows “years of negotiation”, says Chloe Cornish in the Financial Times. New Delhi only ended restrictions on foreign ownership of rupee-denominated bonds in 2020, while investors still complain about complex capital gains taxes and other regulations. Inflows into Indian government bonds could now reach $25bn-$26bn. India’s weighting in the bond index will rise to…

Metro Bank has secured some “much-needed breathing space”, says Bloomberg. After a “tumultuous week” that saw consulting group EY approach lenders to submit offers, it has “clinched” a £925m financing agreement. The deal sees some bondholders take a 40% haircut, while Colombian financier Jaime Gilinski Bacal will take a controlling interest in return for an injection of £102m. The need for new money comes after the UK Prudential Regulation Authority refused to let it use an internal model for calculating risk-weighted assets, leaving it with “an impending hole on its balance sheet”. There are “no winners” from this deal, says Bryce Elder in the Financial Times. Shareholders will be unhappy that their stakes will be heavily diluted, while the fact that some bondholders will have to accept writedowns, even while…

Three to buy Anglo American The Telegraph Shares in this mining giant have slumped by a third this year as the global economy and commodity prices have lost steam. A sound financial position gives Anglo scope to keep investing in future capacity even during periods of weak prices. Its ongoing shift towards copper, iron ore and nickel leaves it well-placed to tap into growing demand for the metals needed for the green transition and for emerging economies to develop. Commodity markets are cyclical, and when prices do rally, the shares, on less than ten times earnings, will have looked a bargain. 2,158p Smiths Group The Sunday Times This FTSE 100 engineering conglomerate helps build everything from airport security scanners to communication modules for space exploration. On 16.4 times earnings, the…

All eyes were on Keir Starmer at the Labour Party conference (see story above), but the biggest news for shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) came just after her speech, when Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor, announced that he was backing her, says Richard Partington The Guardian. That endorsement was a “big coup” for Labour because “economic credibility” has, since the 2008 financial crisis, been seen as the party’s “Achilles heel”. It will add weight to Reeve’s pledge to follow “fiscal rules” and rule as an “iron chancellor”. Carney’s endorsement is not surprising given Labour’s lead in the polls, and the fact that Reeves once worked at the Bank of England, says Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph. But ultimately she is “more of a politician than an economist”…

● Investors are fretting that Greggs is “a few sprinkles short of a topping”, says Lex in the Financial Times. While the baked goods chain is still reporting strong sales growth, its shares are down 13% since March. Yet fears that “the market is as saturated as the fat in some of its snacks” don’t add up. While the firm’s stronghold was originally the north of the UK, it’s now “bulking up” in the south. Plans to have 3,000 stores by the end of 2026 – up by a quarter from today – look achievable. Strong free cash flow and low net debt give it scope to invest in company-owned stores, while franchising lets it grow at low capital cost. Franchises have expanded ten-fold since 2014 to one-fifth of all…

Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance, New York University “Ultimately, technology doesn’t make our lives more economical… but just delivers things in different packages,” says Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, who is regarded as one of the leading experts in valuing investments. It’s important to remember that when assessing claims that a hot new technology will revolutionise the world, he tells Bloomberg. “The history of technology seems to be displacing the status quo with what they claim is a cheaper alternative. But then over time, that cheaper alternative gets more and more expensive and ends up becoming more expensive than the status quo.” Disruptors may up-end an industry, but this doesn’t always benefit consumers. Take video streaming: services such as Netflix…

unherd.com/thepost The government’s proposed ban on mobile phones in the classroom is welcome, says Sophie Winkleman. But it doesn’t go nearly far enough. “Smartphones need to be cracked down on outside the classroom as well as inside.” In my work as patron of a charity that helps to keep children from tough homes in school and in learning, I’ve spoken to countless teenagers all over the country. All would welcome a ban on social media. It’s how they communicate with their peers, so they would find it hard to just give it up. But their compulsive use of it is “divisive, isolating and deeply damaging”. More than a million British children every year are referred to mental-health services with severe depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal behaviour. Without smartphones,…

When we set up the MoneyWeek investment trust portfolio in 2012, we wanted to help readers build a global, all-weather portfolio that they could “set and forget”. That’s why we chose a portfolio of six London-listed investment trusts with exposure to various investment styles and asset classes. Investors often have a home bias when they’re building a portfolio, which can be a significant drawback. There are some first-class companies in the UK, but the US and Europe have several, too. In today’s hyperconnected world, where it’s just as easy to invest in international markets as it is to invest here, it does not make sense to ignore other markets. We also incorporated a level of protection in the portfolio. It’s never been 100% equities or 100% growth stocks. We’ve always…

■ Having turned their backs on equity funds, “risk-averse UK investors” are now dumping fixed-income and bond funds, according to the Financial Times. Despite rising yields on both sides of the Atlantic, retail investors pulled a net £356m from fixed income funds in August, according to figures from the Investment Association. Fund data provider Calastone reported similar outflows from bond funds in August (£330m), followed by £128m of outflows in September. Money market funds have benefitted with net inflows of £862m recorded across August and September. Meanwhile, the “selling pressure” from UK equity funds continues, with £448m of outflows during September alone, while global funds recorded inflows of close to £1bn. Since the beginning of the year, UK active equity funds have recorded roughly £7bn of retail outflows, while passive…

Savers have rushed to grab deals on one-year fixed-rate bonds over the past year. Those who haven’t, or those looking to renew (over the next three months £30.2bn of one-year bonds are set to mature) may need to act fast to lock in higher rates. Last week NS&I pulled its market-leading one-year bond paying 6.2% from the market – and other fixed-rate deals are likely to follow suit. “As interest rates are expected to be lower in the future, the rates paid on fixed bonds and Isas look unsustainable”, James Blower from comparison site The Savings Guru told The Times. The best one-year bonds available now are 6.12% from Al Rayan Bank, 6.11% from Union Bank of India and 6.05% from Ford Money. The gap between fixed bonds and instant-access…

● With the chancellor Jeremy Hunt widely rumoured to be considering an overhaul of individual savings accounts (Isas) in the budget later this year, experts are hoping for an overhaul of the lifetime Isa rules. “Lisas” are aimed at savers putting cash aside for the long term – either to fund the purchase of a first home or for retirement planning purposes. For each contribution you make, the state will add a 25% bonus contribution, up to a maximum of £1,000 a year. However, the small print on the schemes, which are aimed at savers under 40, has put many people off. Simplified rules could boost take-up, specialists say. ● So much for the crisis in the defined-benefit pensions sector, where employers have been closing schemes for years amid the…

It has been a poor month for my long tips: seven of the eight fell. Builder DR Horton slipped from $118 to $104, triggering the stop- loss at $105. Ship broker Clarkson declined from 2,745p to 2,635p, while discount retailer B&M tumbled from 578p to 565p. Kitchen supplier Howden Joinery went down from 735p to 695p. Luxury brand Watches of Switzerland dropped from 617p to 500p; recruitment agency SThree dipped from 355p to 348p and outsourcer Mitie fell from 103p to 97p. Only IT-services group Computacenter bucked the trend. It advanced from 2,052p to 2,472p. Counting DR Horton, my long tips are making a net profit of £197. The good news is that all of my five short tips moved in my favour. Space-based broadband network-builder AST SpaceMobile dipped from…

“Two weeks is a long time at John Lewis headquarters,” says Ben Marlow in The Telegraph. It was only mid-September when Sharon White (pictured), the retail partnership’s boss, “delivered a sobering message to the troops”: that the business was set to rack up yet more losses. White told journalists she was buckling up for a long journey to recovery, yet by the start of this month, she had reached for the eject button instead. Unless a replacement is found more quickly, she will continue to serve until the end of her five-year term in February 2025. But either way, the store’s first female boss will end up being the shortest-serving one in its 100-year history. It’s the right decision, says Nils Pratley in The Guardian. White “gave the place a…