David Buik

  • Banks of Britain: Is it time to love them again?

    How strong is the case for investing in British banks 10 years after the financial crisis? While most banks have reported profits, they've leaked billions in PPI claims – especially Lloyds – and fines, as is the case with RBS. However, their recent good performance and an end date for PPI claims may mean banks are finally returning to robust health. David Buik weighs the pros and cons.

  • The best investments you can make right now

    Long ago – well, in 2017, but a lot has happened since then already – the FTSE 100 superficially performed rather anaemically (+7.6% for the year) when compared to many other global indices, especially the three main US indices (DJIA +25%, NASDAQ +28%) with the Hang Seng up there and the NIKKEI (+19%) not that far behind. There are many market observers that attach part of the disappointing performance to the uncertainties that prevailed over Brexit. The FTSE 100 made much of its main gain, you will recall, following the sell-off on 24 June 2016 post the Referendum result – up 16.5% for the last 6 months of 2016.  Frankly, London’s leading index has been a foreign exchange play.  The Pound fell from $1.50 to $1.25 in a heartbeat.

  • How to make money from the stock market next year

    The outlook for 2018 is even stronger according to such celebrated international bodies as the IMF and the OECD.

  • Why investors should pay attention to these lesser-known tech stocks

    There are some good growth stocks in the UK, in areas that have excellent trends as a tailwind, says David Buik.

  • How would the UK economy react to a Corbyn government?

    Theresa May's declining popularity make the prospect of a Labour government all the more likely. David Buik looks at how the economy could look under Corbyn.

  • David Buik: Leaving the ERM was a blessing in disguise for UK

    Whatever anyone tells us to the contrary, the UK’s relationship with the EU has always been an uneasy one.

  • Brexit has become a phoney war - and that's dangerous

    It is already five months since Theresa May triggered Article 50, thereby serving the mandatory two years’ notice for Britain to leave the EU on 29 March, 2019. In that time there have been limited proposals formulated in terms of policy documentation – especially by the UK government. The word on the street is that, despite discussion papers on transition periods for customs unions and plans to maintain equilibrium (or near enough the status quo in the case of Ireland and Northern Ireland), the UK government is a mile behind the curve in terms of preparation.

  • Compared to banking, private equity is practically naked in its exposure to Brexit - David Buik

    The whole financial sector remains fraught with imponderable issues such as Brexit, with private equity particularly vulnerable, says Panmure Gordon's David Buik.

  • Brexit: What you should consider when investing in UK equities

    There are five issues to consider when making investment decisions on UK-based companies, says Panmure Gordon's David Buik.

  • Political instability could see investors could pay the price for mob oratory - David Buik

    The last two months will go down in the annals as one of the least inspiring and most debilitating periods of UK political history.

  • Will Brexit ever happen? asks analyst David Buik

    David Buik discusses President Macron's relationship with the UK and whether Brexit will ever happen.

  • Investing in challenger banks: Should you buy into the hype?

    The fallout from the most recent financial crisis has allowed challenger banks to flourish in recent years and offer something alternative to the traditional models on offer on the British high street.

  • 100 Days of Trump: Has the President made the US markets great again?

    The first 100 days of Donald Trump: has he made the US markets great again?

  • Libor has been a flawed facility perhaps as far back as 1986 - David Buik

    Ever since the money markets started to mature around the mid-1960s, there has been some level of entente-cordial between virtually all participants. Virtually since “Noah left the Ark” members of the London Discount Market Association  (LDMA) used to meet in the offices of Union Discount every Friday at 12 noon to decide their individual underwriting levels for the Treasury bill tender with the Bank of England’s discount office, with whom the LDMA always enjoyed a forthright and cordial relationship.

  • Syria's barbarism is repellent but financial markets have taken retribution in their stride

    The markets, it was felt, would make a sensible assessment that this military action was purely a 'one-off' act of aggression against Assad's barbaric regime and the universal revulsion it conveyed.

  • Brexit: 'Uncertainty is not a remedy to thrive on' - David Buik

    Donald Tusk hardly had time to open Prime Minister Theresa May’s letter, serving notice that the UK would be leaving the EU in two years, before the political war of attrition started cranking its game up. Of course, the toxic atmosphere generated by members of a cantankerous media and a vociferously visceral Remain bandwagon with some seriously heavyweight politicians on board, seem determined to sabotage the negotiating process and Brexit itself for the next 730 days. It appears that Tusk, Merkel and their cohorts seem to be very comfortable in their own self-aggrandisement and have made it crystal clear that the EU will not to deal with withdrawal and trade under the same heading.

  • 'We could be in for a 10% global stock market correction' - David Buik

    We have just about completed the first quarter of 2017 with fresh records achieved by US markets, the FTSE 100, the DAX and CAC flirting with similar goals.

  • Oil and gas: Companies worth watching in 2017 - David Buik

    There are two commodities that are fundamental to life on earth – oil for essential energy, and water, without which humanity would disappear without trace. By the end of the year, Colin Smith predicts that oil will be slightly firmer in price than today, at around $55-60 a barrel.

  • Investors seem wholly ambivalent to current geo-political and corporate issues says analyst David Buik

    As Prime Minister Theresa May concluded her final meeting with her EU peers in Brussels, the rest of us ruminated over some rather anaemic comment in last Wednesday’s Budget. Chancellor Hammond’s Budget rightly drew criticism over his proposed National Insurance Contribution (NICs) increases for some self-employed, after manifesto promises on this and VAT had been made to the contrary. It also transpires that a complete review over business rates has also been agreed by Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid and the Government.

  • Scotland's electorate may be less keen on the idea of a second referendum - David Buik

    Nicola Sturgeon has announced that she is seeking mandate for independence from a second Scottish Referendum, presumably as a result of unproductive conversations on the single market with Prime Minister Theresa May and her advisers. Investors and speculators assume that Sturgeon might well have difficulty selling her ‘one-trick-pony’ obsession to Scotland’s electorate. Assuming there is no change in the government’s and the Bank of England’s policy, the pound will not be available to Scotland – nor will the Bank of England’s or the FCA’s regulatory facilities be on tap.