Gold has had a great year. Spot prices hit another all-time high (30 October) of $2,781 per ounce, based on Bloomberg data, chalking up 35% gains so far in 2024, having broken through the $2,600 level in September for the very first time.That trumps global equities, based on the FTSE World Index's 18% returns, and even high-flying tech firms have struggled to keep pace, based on the 27% year-to-da

There was a certain degree of investor bemusement last month when shares in US electricity generation company Constellation Energy (CEG:NASDAQ) soared on news technology giant Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement.This was no ordinary deal, however, as it paves the way for the restart of Three Mile Island 1 ? not the reactor which famously melted down in 1979, but a

As the leadership of the market has become ever more concentrated on just a handful of stocks there has been increasing interest in getting equal-weighted exposure to the markets.But what does this mean and what are the pros and cons of products which adopt such an approach? An equal-weighted index is one where all the constituents have the same weighting, unlike most indices which are weighted by

Stock markets across the globe have just emerged from a short, sharp shock, with the sell-off on 5 August one of the worst days in years as investors mull the frightening thought that the US economy is slowing and could be sent spinning into recession.Combined with the impact of the unwinding in the yen 'carry trade' discussed in this explainer and some stretched valuations and you had the recipe

Now the ballots have been cast at the general election, the UK could become the 'reassuringly boring' market, both politically and fiscally, when compared to the more extreme politics on the other side of the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean.So suggests Jean Roche, manager of the Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund (SCP), who notes capital allocators know more or less what to expect, which could explain th

Xtrackers IE Physical Gold ETC Securities (XGDU) $35.61Assets: £2.43 billionIt may have beaten a hasty retreat from recent record highs as concerns about an escalating conflict in the Middle East have eased but gold prices are still forecast in many quarters to make further gains from here.For investors concerned about geopolitical and economic risk, as inflation shows signs of being more entrenc

In December 2023 gold reached new all-time highs above $2,100 an ounce and it has been above $2,000 for all of 2024 to date.So far in the 21st century gold has even outperformed the total return from the S&P 500 ? one of the best performing equity markets globally.According to the World Gold Council in 2023 the precious metal beat the performance of emerging market stocks, US bonds, the US dollar,

We have covered the issue of diversification many times this year in light of the extreme levels of concentration in US equities, where the top 10 stocks by market weight now account for a record 31% of the S&P 500 index.This in turn means the US now makes up 63% of the MSCI All-Country World Index as of the end of October, so even investors who take a global approach are holding lots of US stocks

Saving for the future is not always front of mind for most people which is understandable given the cost-of-living crisis and the need to balance household budgets.This is a shame because the sooner an investor can get started the better their chances are of building a decent nest egg. In this article we show how you can go from a starting point of investing £200 per month, building up your contr

Growth stocks are having a good year. While the UK stock market has bobbed along sideways in 2023, the Nasdaq Composite has rallied 36%.By Shares' calculations, about 70% of the top 50 performers on the S&P 500 can be comfortably called growth companies, led by Nvidia's (NVDA:NASDAQ) near-240% share price jump.This potential for outsized gains is why investors buy high-growth stocks, or funds expo

When debating what kind of portfolio is going to be best suited to an environment of 'higher-for-longer' interest rates, looking at past periods of high rates provides a partial guide.In the UK interest rates were high and stayed high pretty much from the start of the 1960s all the way through to 1990 and during that period not only were rates in double digits but so was inflation. The difference

This article identifies the regions and sectors from across the globe which have produced the best returns over the last 10 years, as well as uncovering how consistent those returns have been.Consistency is important because the more prices move up and down the greater the impact on overall performance.One example illustrates the point. An index which loses 50% in any year needs to double to get b

Whether you're saving for retirement, looking to pay off your mortgage or any other future objective, investing in equities has been one of the most successful ways of generating long-term value creation. According to data from Bloomberg from April 2023, global equities, represented by the FTSE All-World Total Return Index, have grown by 57.3% over the past five years, smashing the returns from ca

After a decent showing in 2022, the UK stock market has failed to fire in 2023. The good news for investors is shares in other parts of the world have done much better and it has never been easier to have a globally diversified portfolio.There is an excellent range of products and instruments which allow you to participate in the returns from markets across the globe and, in this article, we provi

The commonly accepted definition of a bull market is when an index gains 20% or more from previous lows and by this measure the S&P 500 index entered a new bull phase on 8 June 2023.It isn't a hard and fast definition and there are investors who think it is a bear market rally rather than the real deal. There are good arguments on both sides of the debate and this article discusses them.Naysayers

While we are reminded regularly of the need to diversify our investments and not have too much exposure to one area (say the US) or one sector (say technology), most people are quite happy to buy an index 'tracker' fund without a second thought to how they are constructed or whether they might also hold hidden risks.As Shares explains, buying an equal-weighted version of an index fund is an effect

Rising interest rates designed to cool inflation are squeezing consumers' disposable incomes around the globe with spending on big ticket and discretionary items coming under pressure.Yet spending on everyday necessities, mass daily-use items that billions employ every day, is holding up rather well. That's good news for the makers of mundane products which consumers trust and depend upon; think t

There is an old saying that no-one rings a bell when the market is at the top, but by the same token neither is there a clear-cut signal to buy when markets reach the bottom.Yet after a brutal year for stocks - and a particularly tough third quarter - it is beginning to feel as though the worst of the sell-off is in the rear-view mirror and investors should be looking for bargains.However, if we a

The latest readings of US inflation suggest inflationary pressures might have peaked and are prompting improved investor sentiment across the Atlantic, with many US stocks moving back up.There is a smart, low-cost way to play this improving picture through exchange-traded fund Xtrackers S&P 500 Equal Weight (XDWE). It provides exposure to US stocks with a twist.The S&P 500, along with the Dow Jone

Rising interest rates are typically good news for banks and recent results have been encouraging but UK banking stocks have singularly failed to deliver so far in 2022.This reflects their close ties to the UK economy amid concerns of a possible recession - something which is neatly illustrated by the relative outperformance of HSBC (HSBC), which has a much bigger presence in Asia than it does dome