Increased cost of capital means tax has a negative impact on UK growth.
Is the UK stock market going to zero? Less than 8% of UK individuals own shares, compared to 40% in Sweden and 60% in USA. This is evidence of the country’s failure to educate, and its failure to create a positive domestic investing climate. 

Saba Capital may be able to force changes due to shareholder apathy and disenfranchisement which proves the case for fixing Shareholder Rights.

Best financial presents money can buy for you. A bit late maybe but just as useful a guide if you are looking for a new year’s resolution.

The need for financial education for all is highlighted by this excellent FLIC article in the FT.
If the marines need to know about savings and investing then so should everybody else in the UK.

The Telegraph leader column outlines the current and predicted macro economic conditions that may drive equity performance. A good primer.
(Sign up with The Telegraph to read the article for free).

US hedge fund clears up months of mystery over its intentions, calling for meetings to oust the boards at seven trusts it tries to accuse of failing shareholders with what some might consider biased benchmarks. These include three trusts at Baillie Gifford and two at Janus Henderson.

Saba Capital has been accused of pursuing an ‘unknown and unproven’ strategy by Herald Investment Trust, the biggest of seven UK-listed investment trusts with big share price discounts to NAV being targeted by the US activist investor. Will this be good for shareholders or just good for Saba Capital?
(Times subscription required).

Saba Capital's attempt to requisition a meeting at Edinburgh Worldwide fails but is invited to resubmit, if it wishes.

News a plenty on investment trusts, as Saba Capital's opportunistic play to take control of 7 UK trusts starts to hit the buffers.

And at Herald the Board fights back at the 'opportunistic' and 'self-serving' proposals. It is critical that ALL Herald (HRI) shareholders vote at the upcoming general meeting on 22nd January.

Nils Pratley, Finance Editor at the Guardian, slams Saba Capital's moves against numerous investment trusts and recommends that shareholders vote against Saba's proposals. It is vital that sufficient shareholders vote, if Saba are to be defeated.

The attack by Saba on 7 UK investment trusts is starting to get ugly as it issues its own tit for tat response. Worth noting that the claimed high returns from Saba's own funds are mainly derived from its cannibalism of other closed end ETFs in the US and because its heavy buying in UK trusts has narrowed NAV discounts. Not a sustainable long-term strategy?

Alex Brummer comes out strongly against the Saba attempt to takeover 7 UK investment trusts, urging all investors to vote them down and asking regulators to intervene. That's assuming the Trusts can even ask their shareholders to vote, given the broken state of affairs that is UK Shareholder Rights, which prevents companies identifying and communicating with shareholders.

"Smash and Grab". This excellent commentator notes that Investors are being forced into cashing out at or near the bottom of the investment cycle by Saba's opportunistic backdoor takeover attempt on 7 UK investment trusts. Saba is hoping that investors won't turn up to vote, as many won't know about the vote itself, never mind know how to ensure they can cast a vote. An unacceptable situation directly resulting from the non-functioning of shareholder rights laws and processes in UK equity markets.

Yet another of the Investment Trusts under attack by Saba Capital has come out fighting. CQS also brands the proposal claims as 'misleading'. We might also say 'shareholder unfriendly', as who would want to be a minority investor in a Trust controlled by Saba and without any Independent Board members?

The European Smaller Companies Trust and Henderson Opportunities both say Saba's plans pose a big risk to shareholders, with the latter opting to wind up instead.

Administrators UHY Hacker Young have started to transfer Hartley Pension clients though some may have to wait another year until they are moved to another provider.

If this report is correct, we should expect many more delistings in 2025.

Justin Reynolds of ETF Stream reviews developments in stewardship, the concentration of voting power in the large asset managers, their attempts to address this via pass-through voting, and the current state of shareholder enfranchisement.

Shares in Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust, a once wildly popular £800m investment fund formerly managed by Neil Woodford, have slumped by 68.8% in the five years since Schroders took over on 13 December 2019.
(Times subscription required).

We predict that AJ Bell customers will have superior performance to Hargreaves Lansdown’s based on this list of most popular funds for AJ Bell customers, which consists of mainly index trackers. Avid readers will recall that platform market leader Hargreaves promoted the active fund Woodford WEIF up to June 2019.

Manufacturers in the UK have cut back output at the fastest rate in 11 months, compounding the gloomy picture for the British economy, according to a closely watched survey.

The FCA finally publishes its consultation into Investment Trusts' cost disclosure rules. Responses due by March. This is quickly becoming a saga. The current rules are partly to blame for the large discounts these Trusts trade at.
(Financial Times subscription required)

British firms are predicting a sharp fall in business activity in the new year, in the latest economic snapshot to warn of an increasingly gloomy outlook for the UK in 2025.

A potential IPO goes missing. Fast fashion retailer Quiz Clothing has revealed plans to abandon its listing on London's junior stock market amid a battle to stay afloat.

Investors Chronicle takes a deeper look at what AI may impact in terms of industries and our investments. It will be increasingly disruptive. And current winners may end in decline.

The argument for "Mandation", i.e. that the rules should mandate that UK Pension Funds have to invest 'x' % of their funds in UK equity markets in exchange for continued tax relief. Similar to the argument for ISAs and the recently discarded BritISA proposal.
Basically, that a UK Tax relief should benefit the UK economy not elsewhere.
(Financial Times subscription required).

Are we too gloomy about the prospects for the UK economy and our stock markets? Despite the emergence of a post Budget malaise, the author suggests that we might be in for a market recovery and that discount weary open ended investment trusts might be the best play rather than index tracking ETFs.

Some positive expectations finally being set for London's equity markets.

Another argument for "Mandation", pleading for the government to impose it as well as abolish stamp duty on UK equity transactions etc. 
The fly in the ointment is that the Treasury probably can't see past the short term tax revenue loss and doesn't see such moves as growth investment.
(Times subscription required).

Some excellent suggestions from Holly Mead in the Times that are all positive for investors and investing in general.
(Times subscription required).

The Times global economic outlook for 2025. More positive than you might have predicted!
(Times subscription required).

Liquidity. That's what keeps equity markets alive and vibrant. So what's happened to London's liquidity?
(Times subscription required).

EG Group decides to list in US rather than UK.

One of several articles in a similar vein that highlight how far investing has fallen with the general public as an alternative to merely saving. Why is always the question, with obvious answers being poor financial literacy, an increasing degree of anti capitalist culture, negative media coverage (always losers, rarely winners), poor regulation enforcement, high taxes, shrinking equity markets etc etc.
(Financial Times subscription required)

The Times/Sunday Times kicks off its Revive the City campaign. Highlighting that a flourishing financial sector is inextricably linked with a flourishing economy.
(Times subscription required)

IPO drought continues as a UK Insurer, Aspen, decides to list in New York instead. Its current private equity owner, Apollo, expects to achieve a higher valuation there vs. London.
(Sign up with The Telegraph to read the article for free)

The latest three-letter acronym to excite and alarm people.

Robin Wigglesworth's 19 minute article in FT Aphaville highlights why banks may be fast and loose with capital adequacy rules. 

It also contains a link to a wonderful explanatory to UBS shareholders of what some bankers did wrong last time (i.e. 2007/08).  The link is in the comments below the article, each are very well worth reading if you own bank shares or are thinking of buying some.

Investors poured a record $600bn into global bond funds in 2024 as they ‘bet big’ on a shift towards easier monetary policy among major central banks.
(Financial Times subscription required).

Investors pulled a record $450bn out of actively managed stock funds this year as a shift into cheaper index-tracking investments reshapes the asset management industry.
(Financial Times subscription required).

The market for continental European floats bounced back strongly in 2024, underlining the stark contrast with the moribund UK stock exchange.
(Times subscription required).

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