Failing lenders bring back memories of the dark days of 2008 and 2009. Rathbones head of multi-asset investments David Coombs explains why he thinks a global financial crisis is unlikely, but notes how technology has made banking easier for customers and harder for bankers.

Work intrudes on head of multi-asset investments David Coombs’s vacation time as Silicon Valley Bank collapses. He marvels at just how fast information – and misinformation – can spread and suggests social media may be a risk to financial stability.

Decades of trade between the US and China boosted living standards considerably in both nations, but their relationship has been fraying for some time. Rathbones head of multi-asset investments David Coombs believes this unravelling is keeping inflation elevated.

The era of virtually zero percent interest rates is over. Rathbones head of multi-asset investments David Coombs believes that means a return to boom and bust, and he outlines which businesses are most at risk.

Watching the Super Bowl in the wee hours of the morning makes senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown misty eyed for his days playing guard somewhere deep in Essex and the past. It’s also a good reminder that not all gridiron players – or investments – are built for the same jobs.

Our (sort of) new Rathbone Funds chief investment officer Tom Carroll joined us as a decade-long economic world order was ending with a bang. Did he have to search under the desks for his fund managers?

It’s Valentine’s Day so David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments, is taking the duchess out for Pizza Express. Alright, it was a week ago, but he’s still a cheapskate. Just not when it comes to investments.

Britain has suffered through an omnicrisis for almost six months and recession looms on the horizon. And yet UK markets have been a bright spot, notes Rathbone Income Fund co-manager Alan Dobbie. What’s going on?

Slowing economic growth, high inflation and rising interest rates are weighing heavily on global equity markets. Favouring different equity ‘styles’ is one way to try to protect portfolios. Head of equities Sanjiv Tumkur explains that stocks with strong ‘quality’ characteristics tend to outperform in economic slowdowns. So what defines a ‘quality’ company?

The UK government has shattered against a new generation of bond vigilantes. Halloween came early this year, notes multi-asset fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte.

Property funds are stinging investors once again because of a run of redemptions. Senior multi-asset investment specialist Craig Brown notes their net asset values are in a happy superposition right up till the point they get measured.

Fashion companies are falling over themselves to show they are improving their questionable sustainability credentials. Yet some of their marketing has got ahead of realities of the shop floor, notes sustainable multi-asset investment specialist Rahab Paracha.