News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

26 November 2021 | Charlie Todd

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• On Friday, the FTSE 100 endured its biggest fall in 18 months and the oil price dropped 10% as markets panicked over the new Covid variant, Omicron
• In the US, Jerome Powell was reconfirmed as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve which was interpreted as resulting in a more hawkish stance on rates
• The FOMC minutes highlighted that the Fed are prepared to raise rates sooner, while the University of Michigan Sentiment index was up
• UK car manufacturing fell 41% in October – its worst month since 1956 – as global chip shortages hit production

COMPANY NEWS

• Compass released good underlying performance with margins forecast to return to pre-pandemic levels and a very high level of new contract wins
• Remy Cointreau closed up sharply after reporting first half operating income of €212.9m vs €155.4m expected with operating margins of 33%, a new all-time high
• Zoom closed down sharply with analysts calling out concerns over a slowdown in growth as new customer additions came in below consensus estimates

FUNDS

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure stumbled as one of the businesses it has lent money to, Bulb Energy, the UK’s seventh largest energy supplier, went into administration. Sequoia are confident that they will recover the debt in full

SMALL-CAP NEWS

Bricks, bricks, glorious bricks – brilliant news on three fronts with great results from Michelmersh and Breedon – both released robust trading statements with both fully hedged on energy and carbon for 2022 whilst demand is still strong – whilst Brickability used recent raise money for a savvy acquisition of HBS NE Limited, giving them an entry to the solar PV, battery storage and more importantly the EV charging technology market

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

1985: Windows 1.0 is released by Microsoft

2017: Bitcoin hits $10,000 for the first time

THE ART OF INVESTMENT PODCAST

Episode 19 - Paul Dixey in conversation with Tony Catachanas, CEO of Victory Hill Capital Advisors LLP The COP26 summit has made many headlines in recent weeks and policymakers have set some lofty ambitions for reaching net zero emissions. But how are we going to get there, what needs to be done by the private sector and what does this mean for us as investors?

RE-OPENING TIMES

Sad news to report as Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster, died this week. The business-minded rodent began his trading career on 12^th June 2021, boasting a career about as long as the average US hedge fund manager, and selects which crypto he'd like to trade, as the wheel spins through the different options. His office floor has two tunnels nearby: one for buy, one for sell. Every time he runs through a tunnel, the electronics wired to his office complete a trade according to Mr Goxx's desires. By the time of his sad demise, his portfolio was up 19.41%

MARKET DATA

 As at 26^th November 2021. Source: Financial Express

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