Market Insight 2020

Weekly Market Briefings

A concise overview of global markets every week. Coverage includes macro drivers, currency shifts, bond and equity sentiment.


Market Insight Notes

Deep-dive analysis into long term trends, investment themes, and portfolio strategy curated by TAM’s research team.

What Lies Beneath
TAM Market Insight

What Lies Beneath

December 2020

Looking back on this year, professionally and personally, I think few would say it’s been a forgettable one. The herculean strength in the stock market couldn’t stand in greater contrast to the very real pain being seen in households.

The Battle for the Senate in 2021: It’s a Peach
TAM Market Insight

The Battle for the Senate in 2021: It’s a Peach

December 2020

Investor or not, everyone outside of small villages in the middle of the Amazon knows we now have a viable vaccine inbound into our local GP any day now. What most will also know was this news lit a fuse under markets and pushed them higher in November, so high in fact that it broke all records for a one mo...

ESG funds in TAM portfolios win again.
TAM Market Insight

ESG funds in TAM portfolios win again.

December 2020

The Investment Week Sustainable & ESG Investment Awards ceremony took to the virtual stage this year in honour of the fund providers, research and ratings teams who have contributed to the significant progress that has been made this year in driving the growth towards ESG investing.

A generational opportunity for commodities?
TAM Market Insight

A generational opportunity for commodities?

November 2020

News of vaccines coming in will likely prompt other big pharma companies to announce their successes as we move towards Christmas. Whilst that’s going to be a big boost to newspaper headlines for households across the world, I think on Wall Street, each new entrant announcing their success will lose a...

(Vaccine) Trials and Tribulations
TAM Market Insight

(Vaccine) Trials and Tribulations

November 2020

Yesterday an understandable sense of euphoria swept equity markets only a week after most of Europe was plunged into a second lock-down.  Positive vaccine developments and the near certainty of a Democrat in the White House resulted in the best daily stock market performance since March.  Sectors ...

The rise of passives in ESG investing... It's risky business
TAM Market Insight

The rise of passives in ESG investing... It's risky business

October 2020

We have long been advocates of active investing over the alternative of investing passively into the market via an exchange-traded fund (ETF) or index fund. The recent rise in demand for investments that contribute towards positive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors has been met by a rapid i...

US Elections; A Game of Thrones
TAM Market Insight

US Elections; A Game of Thrones

August 2020

Few would argue the US presidential election has always been the great spectacle of global politics and that’s with career politicians in the running, let alone a defending President with more experience in reality TV than politics.

Q2 in Review; One half, two very different stories.
TAM Market Insight

Q2 in Review; One half, two very different stories.

July 2020

Q2 has been to the bull market what Q1 was to the bear market. The first quarter saw the MSCI World down 20% in record time (a little over 5 weeks) propelled lower by COVID-19 and a synchronised oil market crash. Inversely, Q2 has turned into one of the best quarters on record for global stock markets with ...

Brexit:  High Noon at the Last Chance Saloon
TAM Market Insight

Brexit:  High Noon at the Last Chance Saloon

July 2020

Being at the “Last Chance Saloon” is essentially having one last chance to find a solution to a problem before it all collapses. “Last roll of the dice” would be a synonym.

Whist the phrase is common place, what I didn’t know was its origin....

NEW NORMAL – Our Complete COVID-19 Investment Guide
TAM Market Insight

NEW NORMAL – Our Complete COVID-19 Investment Guide

June 2020

Navigating through an evolving. Financial landscape during a pandemic

Liquidity to Insolvency in a Zombie Apocalypse
TAM Market Insight

Liquidity to Insolvency in a Zombie Apocalypse

May 2020

What is your favourite COVID television series? As many around the world hunker down, online streaming has come into its own. Be it new shows or recycled classics, everyone has their preferred “go to” genre to escape the reality of our self-imposed incarceration.

Read More

Ever seen a Trojan horse made of US Dollars?
TAM Market Insight

Ever seen a Trojan horse made of US Dollars?

May 2020

Perhaps you, like me, have been watching these markets rallying back to within range of their previous highs at astonishing pace. So much so that this rebound has been coined the most hated rebound in history. Why? Well, it’s caught most investors off-guard who are underweight equities, there also remain a huge amount of investor...

Feathering The Throttle
TAM Market Insight

Feathering The Throttle

May 2020

It’s been somewhat of a melancholy end to the third quarter for active managers. Two pieces of news have surfaced which serve to take the shine off the benefits of active management.

Skating on thin ice?
TAM Market Insight

Skating on thin ice?

April 2020

The present financial market conditions represent nothing that we have ever witnessed before and hope we will never witness again. A battle is taking place on the frontline and it’s not only the truly heroic global medical profession that’s fighting it.

ESG Investing: Loved On The Way Up And On The Way Down
TAM Market Insight

ESG Investing: Loved On The Way Up And On The Way Down

April 2020

Needless to say that the events of the last several months have caused large scale disruptions to lives of the global population. Perhaps one of the only beneficiaries from the enforcement of global lockdowns across the world is our environment.

It’s not about timing the market, but about time in the market.
TAM Market Insight

It’s not about timing the market, but about time in the market.

April 2020

With global markets staging a healthy recovery last week, investors hold their breath as to where we go from here – higher or lower as the game show likes to say. Central banks and governments the world over have thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at stimulating their economies, so now that silver bullet has been shot, all that r...

Unusual times but it’s business as usual
TAM Market Insight

Unusual times but it’s business as usual

March 2020

All of us in business will have been affected operationally by the extraordinary spread of Coronavirus COVID-19 over the past weeks.

We wanted to let all of our connections know that as a result of what is our existing business operational integrity, we have needed to take only limited steps to ensure the ongoing functio...

What goes down must come up
TAM Market Insight

What goes down must come up

March 2020

“The value of your investments can go down as well as up".

Being investment professionals, you will all be familiar with that phrase because it’s plastered on every piece of literature in the investment industry. Whilst it’s unavoidably true, it’s a cold and steri...

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