While the US continues to dally over a trade deal with China, Russia has forged one of steel and gas with the Eastern giant. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth ponders a gas pipeline in frozen Siberia.

With the UK economy creaking under the weight of Brexit preparations, the election campaign is well and truly underway. Can the parties’ shower of gifts for voters really be paid for, wonders chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.

Another deadline, another delay to Brexit – and now another election on top. Meanwhile, the tennis match between China and the US over trade continues, notes our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.

Markets pottered along last week, shrugging off some disappointing American data. Our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth looks ahead to lots of central banking news and political posturing. 

Stopping to remember is an important thing. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth outlines the week ahead.

By knowing more about a problem and its solution, you can fix it. But you can also con people. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth draws parallels between politicians and economists and builders and mechanics.

As Halloween approaches, the threat of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit has retreated. Our chief investment officer, Julian Chillingworth, outlines a new plan for keeping tabs of the Brexit electoral games.

Investors are galloping from one extreme to the other in all sorts of markets. But nothing is black and white, warns chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, so investors should try to focus on the longer term effects and ignore short-term craziness. 

American economic measures took a dive early last week, taking equity markets with them. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth reckons upcoming quarterly earnings releases will set the tone for the winter.

At his penultimate meeting, outgoing President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi announced a series of measures to ease monetary policy in the listless region. The bank cut deposit rates by 10 basis points to -0.50% and will restart quantitative easing (QE) on 1 November. At just €20 billion (£17.7bn) per month it’s peanuts compared to historic QE – since 2015 the ECB’s bond purchases have totalled €2.65 trillion – but crucially the new programme has no set end date. Until inflation gets back to 2% and stays there, QE and zero rates are here to stay.