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Posted FCSS

China out of favour, time to reconsider?

It is another Macro article for me today as I look to add some quality trusts to my long term investment portfolio, so in this piece I take a look at China. Over a decade ago when I first started my career China was en vogue, if you didn’t have a large weighting to China in your portfolio then you must be quite simply bonkers, after all Chinese stocks had surged around 250% in little over 15 months from summer 2006. In those years the common thinking was that the business cycle was a thing of the past and the only way was up, that was until the 2008 financial crisis. Today though many investors are still steering well clear of China, with a trio of concerns, namely credit bubbles, doubts around the integrity of Chinese financial data and the slowing of official growth rates. But are these concerns overdone?

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Posted EZJ

Easyjet – Are the turbulent times set to continue?

Easyjet has had a turbulent year during which it has seen its share price almost cut in half. It’s hard to believe the shares were priced at £16 in February of last year, today they are trading below £10. The perfect storm of decreasing fairs and increased costs have seen the sellers take charge in recent months, but could we be near the bottom? After the recent Q1 trading update I take a further look at this unloved share and assess whether Easyjet’s share price will return to flying high or whether there is more turbulence to come for shareholders.

Posted TW.

Taylor Wimpey 2016 Trading Results Unpicked

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) perhaps needs limited introduction, it is one of the larger players in the house development sector. TW’s focus is almost entirely on the UK market, of which 25% of revenues come from London and the South East. It was no surprise then that following the BREXIT vote that the shares were marked down almost 40% in the immediate aftermath. The shares have recovered 27% since trading around 170p, but after this week’s trading results can we expect a further recovery?

Posted GDX

Prospect for Gold in 2017

In continuation with my macro themes for 2017, today I look at Gold and what I consider to be the best way to get exposure to the sector. Gold had an explosive start to 2016, up 30% to $1,372 from $1,061 the start of the year in $ terms to its peak just after the BREXIT vote in the summer. Since then Gold has given up much of the gains, ending 2016 at $1,173 just 7% higher than where it started. The price action has been unpredictable of late, gold traditionally does well in times of uncertainty/adversity and hence many gold analysts thought Donald Trump in the white house would rally the yellow stuff, but no such joy. So what are the prospects for gold in 2017, will it be a year for gold bugs or gold bears?

Posted Macro

Are UK Smaller Companies still investable?

I continue today with my portfolio review ahead of the dawn of 2017. As I wrote about previously as well picking out individual contrarian stocks I also like to focus on Macro themes and getting exposure to these through ETFs and quality Investment Trusts. I find this strategy allows me to make money by getting it right at a Macro level even if I make a few mistakes at a Micro level. Today’s focus is on UK listed Smaller companies, it’s an area I love and where I place most of own money when it comes to individual stocks. But after a bull run is this area still hot for growth and what is the best way to get exposure?

Posted 1 Comment on San Leon – Share Price Fails to Respond to Indicative Bid SLE

San Leon – Share Price Fails to Respond to Indicative Bid

I previously wrote about San Leon (SLE) here and at that time in September my opinion was this was a BUY, with a preliminary target of 65p. At the start of this week things got interesting, a number of rumours were published by reputable news sources and subsequently confirmed by San Leon. Why then have the shares failed to respond anywhere close to the price?

Posted IGG

IG Group – Battered by the FCA, is the share price fall overdone or more pain to come?

IG Group (IGG) had delivered 600% growth for those shareholders who got in at the IPO in 2005, this compared to 40% for the FTSE100 over the same period. Disaster struck though earlier this month with the shares down almost 45% to 441p in the month of December so far, this being some way off their record high of 967p, set earlier this year. In this article I consider whether the the sell off is overdone or whether investors should start to think about catching a falling knife?

Posted 1 Comment on Genel slumps further – it’s a sell from me GENL

Genel slumps further – it’s a sell from me

Back in September I wrote a piece on Genel Energy (GENL) here, at the time I issued a Hold recommendation with the price at 90p. Since then the shares have slumped further with traders now swapping these shares at just 71p. At the time of my original article I advised potential investors to consider buying around 80p ceteris paribus, I thought it was worth revisiting Genel given we are now significantly below that level…