This week in MoneyWeek magazine, we take a comprehensive look at investing in emerging markets, give you some sound advice on buying small cap stocks without a lot of legwork, and bring you an interview with former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King. If that’s whet your appetite, why not sign up now?
If you read yesterday’s Money Morning you’ll know that the markets are pretty much at the whim of the central banks. And if John Stepek is right, their meddling will result in a weaker dollar – which will be good for, among other things, emerging markets and commodities.
And if you times emerging markets by commodities, the answer you usually get is Brazil.
Brazil has plenty to cheer about
And that’s exactly what this week’s magazine cover story is about. As Matthew Partridge explains, it’s a country that’s been plagued by political scandal, and the commodity rout has dealt it a huge blow. As a result, stocks have taken a beating – the benchmark Bovespa index has fallen by 50% in the last five years.
But lately, it’s been a different story. It’s the best performing market in the world so far this year, and there could be “plenty of room for prices to rise even further”, says Matthew. Plus, “the political crisis that has paralysed the country for over a year seems to be coming to an end”. As a commodity producing economy, it’s heavily dependent on China, of course, but China is growing again, says Matthew.
Matthew looks at the best ways to buy in – and picks eight investments to buy now. If you want to know what they are, why not sign up now.
On his funds page, our regular contributor David C Stevenson takes a broader look at emerging-markets. “Emerging market stocks represent decent long-term value”, he says. But he sounds a note of caution. “What happens next depends on a very obvious metric”, he says: corporate earnings. If you’re still wanting to get some exposure but prefer a more defensive stance, David has one fund that should suit you down to the ground.
Head for the wild frontier
For bolder investors, head beyond emerging markets to frontier markets. This week, Sarah Moore takes a look at some of the world’s most exciting – Myanmar and Iran are both “prime example of frontier markets which have recently opened up to foreign investment”.
It’s not an area for the timid, you need to be in for the long haul, and “you should only invest a relatively small proportion of your portfolio”, says Sarah. She picks two of the best frontier market funds to buy into.
Small caps without the hard work
Matthew pops up again talking about small-cap stocks. “Put simply”, he says, “smaller companies tend to produce bigger returns over time”, so it makes sense to add them to your portfolio.
There are catches, however. Spreads between the buy price and the sell price are wider, making trades more expensive. The stocks aren’t as liquid. And there’s simply not as much information produced about the companies, so picking winners can be hard work.
Happily, help is at hand. “If you don’t fancy doing all that research yourself”, says Matthew “there are several funds that will do the legwork for you.” Matthew picks four of the best.
Mervyn King: In or Out?
This week, our editor in chief, Merryn Somerset Webb, interviewed the former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King. While he was a central banker, it’s fair to say he was careful with his opinions. He’s still pretty guarded, but Merryn manages to coax some interesting views out of him on Europe, the global economy and extreme monetary policy. It was a long and wide-ranging talk that we couldn’t fit into just one edition of the magazine, so we’ve split it into two parts. We’ll bring you the second part next week.
This week, Lord King talks about Europe. If you want to know what he has to say, why not sign up now.
Elsewhere in the magazine, Alex Williams looks at carmakers, and for his gamble of the week picks a fast-growing company that returns a 6% yield. Plus, he brings you the pick of the share tips from around the British press.
Edward Chancellor looks at oil; we have a briefing on executive pay; and Natalie Stanton asks if “lifestyle” pensions funds – a popular option for workplace pensions – are appropriate for the vast numbers of people invested in them.
And in the ninth in our series of beginner’s guides to investing, we explain what a fund actually is, and what to look out for when investing in them.
Travel is back, with a look at four of the best country retreats, and if you fancy a permanent holiday, our property page features eight of the best luxury properties in the sun.
There’s a lot more that there just isn’t space to mention here, so why not find out for yourself, and why not sign up now?