Financial Times News - John Authers Column

New order

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:50:40 GMT

The future of finance depends on the future of the emerging markets. And it is not just investors who know this. Even politicians have come to realise it. Look no further than the world of summitry. The Group of 20 - a group that includes the Group of Seven industrialised countries as well as China, Brazil and India - started out life as a low-key grouping that allowed central bankers and finance ministers to thrash out technical issues away from the spotlight, and that was about it.

Ever-present risks

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:50:29 GMT

Whatever happens in the future of finance, we can be certain of one thing: it will involve bubbles. Over several centuries of recorded financial history, bubbles have periodically formed in the markets. Yet their causes are not economic, they have deeper roots - in human psychology. While greed and fear traditionally keep each other in check, occasionally, fear diminishes and greed takes over. This is quickly followed by over-confidence. The result is a bubble, followed by a crash, as investors rediscover fear.

Long View: Emerging Markets

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:50:26 GMT

Whatever the case for investing in emerging markets, it appears to have convinced many investors.

Muddying the regulatory debate

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:35:38 GMT

Financial regulation is, at first sight, a technical issue. The events of the past two years have proved beyond doubt that something is drastically wrong with the way finance has been regulated. And so it might be logical to think that making the necessary changes to the system should also be a technical matter. Think again.

The Short View

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:55:23 GMT

Every time China produces a new download of economic numbers, it prompts the same question outside the country: do we believe them?

Our quest for a far less risky future

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:30:41 GMT

The Financial Times has spent the last three weeks pondering the Future of Investing. We did not see the future. And even the present is surprising.

Return to simplicity

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:25:37 GMT

Asset prices are surging upwards once again. The global recession, at least as technically defined by economists, appears to be over. Many in the world of finance have been emboldened to claim that there is no need for more changes to the structure of the global financial industry.

Animal instincts

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:00:31 GMT

For years, the hedgehogs have ruled the foxes in the investment world. It may be time for a change.

Ways to take stock of it all

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:45:24 GMT

After a crisis that overturned assumptions, fund managers have to think afresh about the basis on which they buy and sell

Financialisation genie set loose

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:50:16 GMT

Not long ago, there were three asset classes: stocks, bonds and cash. Some were not even sure if cash counted as an asset class.

Financialisation genie on the loose

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:35:27 GMT

Not long ago, there were only three asset classes - stocks, bonds, and cash. Some were not even sure if cash counted as an asset class.

Triumph of common sense over benchmarks

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:15:28 GMT

The Financial Times is a week into an ambitious series on The Future of Investing. It is yet to come to any firm conclusions but, if I had to boil down the contributions after the first week, they would come to the following.

A new sophistication in risk

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:00:23 GMT

After the past two years, discussions of risk suddenly seem much less abstract. The way in which apparently diverse markets took a synchronised dive last year has shaken up ideas about diversification.

Short View: Waiting for the fall

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:05:21 GMT

The yen is trading at below Y90 to the dollar. Apart from a few weeks during the crisis, when investors were desperately repaying yen-denominated debts, this is territory not seen in 15 years.

Short View: Waiting for the fall

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:50:25 GMT

The yen is trading at below Y90 to the dollar. Apart from a few weeks during the crisis, when investors were desperately repaying yen-denominated debts, this is territory not seen in 15 years.

Back to business as usual?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:15:21 GMT

A year after the financial disaster of 2008, the search is on for investing's winners and for its casualties. There are surprisingly few of either.

Wanted: new model for markets

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:10:25 GMT

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A risky revival

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:25:16 GMT

This should have been a week for traders in the stock market to feel good about life. US stocks have rallied by close to 60 per cent in barely six months since they hit bottom in March. The Federal Reserve meanwhile pronounced this week that "economic activity has picked up" - the most confident language the central bank has used for some time.

The big money follows contrarian thinkers

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:25:12 GMT

I do not often get the chance to delve into my childhood in these columns. I am proud to say that I took no interest whatever in the stock market when I was eight.

Long View: Lessons of history point to short-lived rally

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:25:16 GMT

The financial upheaval has been good news for financial historians.

Another brick in China's Great Wall of confusion

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:45:23 GMT

"The Great Wall ... is evidence of a historical inability of people in this part of the planet to communicate, to confer and jointly determine how best to deploy enormous reserves of human energy and intellect."Ryszard Kapuscinski

Hedge funds up, but all is not rosy

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:35:22 GMT

Hedge funds have made money this year. This is a gratifying change compared with last year, but there remains a nasty possibility that it will do them little or no good.

Fog of Vietnam war still provides lessons

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:10:20 GMT

Robert McNamara died this week, at the age of 93. As the US defence secretary when many of the most fateful decisions of the Vietnam war were made, he was one of the past century's most controversial figures. He was also a successful businessman and banker.

Beware optimism

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:30:20 GMT

More than once during the global financial crisis, the words of John Maynard Keynes have framed our dilemmas. He once said: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." He is also held to have said: "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

Don't give up on active managers

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:50:27 GMT

The pressures on investors seem to be abating, but it may not feel like that to active portfolio managers, particularly in Europe.