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With BP slashing its dividend this week, we have now seen 52 of the FTSE 100 companies suspend or cut their dividends this year. 

Investors’ risk appetite changed over the course of July with our risk indicator in green territory for the first time since June 2019. We continue to overweight equities, but to a lesser extent. Gold still shines.

As expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept UK base rates at 0.1% and maintained their current level STG IG corporate bond on the BoE balance sheet at £745bn, with no immediate expectations of a need for further stimulus.

This week we are right in the middle of the European banks’ Q2 reporting period. Today for example we had results from a diverse group of Europe-listed banks, with Credit Suisse, BBVA, Lloyds and Standard Chartered all reporting. All have very different business models and footprints across varying geographies.

Precious and industrial metals are on a winning streak. Gold could reach 2200 US dollars by the end of this year and the silver rally is far from running out of steam. There are four reasons for this.

Coventry Building Society today priced a well-received £350m 2.5 year UK RMBS deal, and by using a Master Trust style structure (historically the preserve of only the largest UK banks) the issuer has beaten its own path to joining the big leagues of RMBS.

“You lose some, you win some”, a number of investors may think after the turbulent down and up on the markets. But what is set to happen now, after the recovery?

As more government bond curves around the world join the select group trading at negative yields, we are seeing a spike in ‘Japanification’ headlines in the press.

Earlier this week, Moody’s published its default study for June, which showed that as expected, default rates globally have started to pick up as a result of COVID-19. The trailing 12-month global high yield default rate reached 5.4% at the end of June, up from 4.8% in May, as the gap to the long term average of 4.1% continues to grow.