In a quiet week, the UK press were kept busy with various rumours about the Spring Budget. We had one contact that suggested this Budget may be the first part of a fiscal trilogy due to the lack of financial wriggle room now. Elsewhere US GBP numbers were good, and the Yen strengthened (which has been a very rare occurrence!). The political football that is the UK housebuilding sector also came under pressure due to a review by the CMA – competition and markets authority. A UK stock market bellwether, Reckitt Benckiser disappointed analysts (and holders) and Direct Line was the latest company to be approached for takeover. Hunting and IMI had decent prints and Frasers Group went shopping! Over the pond Warren Buffett made a tribute to Charlie Munger in Berkshire’s quarterly report. Snowflake’s share price melted as Universal Music hit the right note! (sorry). At the beginning of February, we highlighted some car manufacturers putting the brake on their EV expansion. This week we had a leak from Apple that their “Project Titan” EV project had been parked and Mercedes and Aston Martin both paused their new divisions. Is it simply a battle between Tesla and the Chinese manufacturers, or maybe Frasers (see above) are correct and EVs should stick to Scalextric? The US stock market has the “Magnificent 7.” In Europe, they have the “Granolas” a term coined by Goldman Sachs to describe 11 ascendant European companies that have lifted European markets to a record high. They have contributed half of the Stoxx Europe 600 increase over the last year! #TWTWTW #ThatWasTheWeekThatWas #vermeerpartners #theartofinvestment #granolas #mag7 #ev
In a quiet week for UK macro news, ahead of the Spring Budget this week, analysts have been busy with anagrams.... GRANOLAS has been offered by Goldman Sachs to describe 11 ascendant European companies that have lifted European markets to a record high. The companies — GSK, Roche, ASML, Nestlé, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, L'Oréal, LMVH, AstraZeneca, SAP, and Sanofi — have contributed half of the Stoxx Europe 600 increase over the last year. Read what else William Buckhurst and Charlie Todd noted last week across the markets here: https://lnkd.in/e7PAwUu3 #vermeerpartners #theartofinvestment #investmentmanagement #wealthmanagement #privateclients #HNWI #TWTWTW #investmentnews
