Investment Review

July 2021: We have been talking of inflation for well over a decade – which is not the same thing as calling its timing. An impasse was created by the failure of the economy to grow after the 2008 crisis – all the risks (as we patiently explained) were deflationary, and in vain did the central banks and governments try to force an inflationary impulse into a sluggish world.

April 2021: Looking back over the past year and a bit, we feel a sense of relief Ruffer has performed well through another crisis – protecting clients from the initial covid turmoil, and making good money in the many weathers that have followed. Yet the markets remain our master – they will do what they do, when they do it: we must do our best in that context. And that context is about to change.

January 2021: A changing of the guard is also the way of the world – and on its way. We are preparing for a time when high taxes – on capital gains, wealth, and income – effectively constrain capital accumulation.

October 2020: Whatever one’s outlook, there have been times in 2020 when the markets seemed to echo one’s innermost thoughts, and times when we shout out like Falstaff, that the whole world has gone mad.

June 2020: This review touches briefly on what has gone before, then sets out what we expect for the coming months and years.

April 2020: When the elements speak, elemental forces are unleashed, and it is important, in the middle of this storm, to capture the right tone of voice.

January 2020: The year of 2019 was one when many of the six impossible things before breakfast remain unresolved – with the shining exception of Brexit, and the wider resolution of domestic politics.

October 2019: There’s a childhood game, whose name changes each generation – currently called Jenga. It starts as a wall of wooden bricks, and successive players remove individual pieces until the loser takes one out, and down falls the edifice.

July 2019: When the Governor of the Bank of England speaks, it is always worth listening to, and he is on to something when he writes about market liquidity; he is surely right to flag the dangers of the narrow exit doors in a crowded investment room.