When it comes to beating inflation, few assets can compete with shares over the long run. Certainly, stocks have struggled to post gains in recent times as restrictive monetary policy has weighed on economic growth and investor sentiment.
Inflation is proving to be a difficult beast for the Bank of England to tame. While it has almost halved over the past six months, annual inflation still stands at twice the Bank’s 2pc target. And after a rise of 0.1 of a percentage point in December, against expectations of a fall of the same magnitude, investors are becoming increasingly concerned that inflation could prove to be stickier than first envisaged.
Intelligence is often viewed as the key differentiator between successful investors and their loss-making rivals. However, the reality is that successful stock market investing does not require a high level of intelligence.
Bitcoin is making an unlikely recovery. From a peak of almost $70,000 per “coin” two years ago it fell by almost 80pc to about $15,000 a year later, but has since more than doubled to about $43,000 now. The original cryptocurrency has been written off many times but on each occasion has bounced back strongly.