The Armchair Trader

15/10/2025

Discover why a 2% allocation to crypto could be the key to a balanced portfolio. Are you underweight this asset class? Follow the link in our bio to find the full podcast

15/02/2025

Our latest weekly newsletter is out now, packed with small company analysis, commodities news and interviews.

Read it here and visit our website to get it in your inbox each Saturday.

14/02/2025

Apple vs Samsung Electronics: Which will be the winner in Trump's trade war?

https://www.thearmchairtrader.com/us-stock-market-news/apple-vs-samsung-electronics/

The tariffs war with China will have knock-on effects on tech giants such as Apple and Samsung. As Editor Stuart Fieldhouse writes, some will suffer more than others.

Trump's tariffs war with China is going to have knock on effects on tech giants like Apple and Samsung. Some will suffer more than others

13/02/2025

In his latest interview, host Stuart Fieldhouse speaks with Chris Doornbos, CEO of E3 Lithium. Stuart and Chris chat about demand for lithium, how direct lithium extraction works, using Alberta's legacy of oil drilling knowledge and infrastructure, and why E3 makes such an attractive case for a strategic partner.

Stuart Fieldhouse speaks with Chris Doornbos, CEO of E3 Lithium. Stuart and Chris chat about demand for lithium, how direct lithium extraction works, using A...

13/02/2025

Our guide to investing in Genomics will help you to navigate this important investing MegaTrend. Understand why it is important, and how you can get exposure to it in your portfolio.

Find out how you can add exposure to the Genomics megatrend within your portfolio by using ETFs and Stocks & Shares

13/02/2025

A recent study by ETF manager GraniteShares finds one in four UK investors cut their positions in UK stocks post-budget.

A study by ETF fund manager GraniteShares finds one in four UK investors cut their positions in UK stocks post-budget.

09/09/2024

Discover how you can add exposure to the Artificial Intelligence megatrend within your investment portfolio through Stocks and ETFs

https://buff.ly/47rjQM4

21/05/2024

Editor Stuart Fieldhouse talks to Paul Major, Investment Manager of FTSE 250-listed, GBP 700m Bellevue Healthcare Trust (LON:BBH).

Healthcare remains one of the sectors of prime interest to us, so it was great to have Paul Major on our Investing, Markets and Money podcast. We had a lengthy discussion, including the role of technology in the healthcare sector, the expansion of private healthcare globally and what is driving the performance of the sector.

Also up for review are the US and Asian healthcare markets and the future role of artificial intelligence companies. We spend time looking at other key trends that will affect healthcare companies like the obesity epidemic in the developed world and the role of preventive medicine.

Bellevue Healthcare Trust is a high conviction, long-only investment trust that invests in the global healthcare sector. It has a very flexible mandate when it comes to the size and location of the companies it invests with. It has a maximum of 35 holdings. The trust aims to beat the total return of the MSCI World Healthcare Index in sterling terms on a rolling three year period.

Listen to the podcast here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BevEIrnZh3c&t=153s

23/02/2023

We've been providing tips, news and analysis on stocks, funds, commodities and more since 2010. Join our community or sign up to our free newsletter for great ideas, how and when you want them

18/07/2022

It’s not a fun time to be a new investor. Years of Covid-19 restrictions, a volatile geopolitical environment highlighted by the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war and public sector strikes, soaring commodity prices, interest rate hikes, contracting growth… The list of negative news seems quite exhaustive and depressing. Since the beginning of the year many portfolios have taken a pummelling, and some investors are ready to throw the towel in.

All economic news is pointing to a global recession next year and identifying growth in any sector of the economy is becoming a riddle worthy of a sphinx. It’s a natural human instinct to follow the herd and when everyone is clamouring for the lifeboats and throwing their meticulously nurtured portfolios into the sea, the reaction is to join the panic. Fear, anxiety and despair take hold and that drives many investors into selling rashly into a falling market.

However, market crashes and economic downturns are part of life, and like a squall on a sunny day can blow out of nowhere. But past experience has shown that investors that stayed the course and remained invested in hard times came out the other side in great shape. As the adage says: what goes up, must come down, and the reverse is true in that downturns are followed by upturns.

In fact, the coming months may provide a rare opportunity to accumulate good quality companies with excellent long-term prospects when prices are low. These opportunities aren't available to investors who sell during market downturns, hoping to stem their losses and wait things out on the side-lines.

That said, now is not a time to be reckless. As always, investors need to have enough cash kept on balance to cover real-life eventualities – you shouldn’t be selling stock to pay the gas bill. Moreover, in a downturn some sectors are going to be eroded more than others and investors can protect their portfolio by selecting sectors and companies that will fare better than others in market downturns – hence the term ‘defensive stocks.’

With trouble at home and chaos overseas, the investment world needs a superhero – we've got five defensive plays from the FTSE250 that may just be up to the job. Defenders Assemble.

A analysis of defensive investing with specific reference to the FTSE250 highlighting five stocks from the index with defensive qualities

27/05/2022

Our Wall Street correspondent Britt Tunick talks to US market pundits about the Tesla rout and asks if investors should stay in or head for the exit?

Our Wall Street correspondent talks to US market pundits about the Tesla stock rout and asks if investors should stay in.

27/05/2022

Meet the team at the Armchair Trader.

Robert Stephens is a CFA Charterholder who has around 15 years' experience working in the financial services industry.

The vast majority of that time has been spent working as an Equity Analyst, with a focus on FTSE 350 shares in the consumer goods, consumer services and retail sectors.