In this year-end podcast, Michael Hewson and Michael Brown from Pepperstone reflect on the financial markets over the past year, discussing key economic data, market drivers, and the performance of various sectors. They analyse the implications of US inflation trends, UK economic challenges, and the performance of the FTSE 100. The conversation also touches on corporate investment trends, particularly in the retail and defence sectors, and concludes with insights into BP's leadership change and predictions for the upcoming year.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Year-End Reflections

02:05 Market Drivers and Economic Data Overview

05:02 US Economic Indicators and Federal Reserve Outlook

09:27 UK Economic Challenges and Bank of England Decisions

12:33 Political Influence on Monetary Policy

14:35 FTSE 100 Performance and Economic Context

17:46 Global Market Comparisons and Future Outlook

24:53 Market Reactions and Guidance Clarity

26:22 Defense Sector Dynamics and Investment Trends

28:40 Debt Markets and Economic Outlook

31:21 Banking Sector Performance and Risks

35:09 Retail Sector Insights and Consumer Behavior

39:10 Investment Climate and Corporate Decisions

41:03 Leadership Changes in Major Corporations

In this penultimate podcast of 2025 Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss the latest Fed decision to cut rates, as well as looking ahead to next week’s rate decisions from the Bank of England and Bank of Japan respectively, discussing the risks to global bond markets in 2026 of a more hawkish BOJ. We also look ahead to the latest numbers from Nike, FedEx and Currys.

In this podcast episode, Michael Hewson and Michael Brown discuss the current state of the markets as they approach year-end, focusing on key economic indicators, upcoming Fed meetings, and significant corporate developments. They analyse the implications of the dollar's weakness, M&A activities like Netflix's potential acquisition of Warner Brothers, and Unilever's spin-off of its Magnum Ice Cream brand. The conversation also covers the UK economy's performance, PMI data, and the retail sector's outlook as Christmas approaches. Additionally, they delve into the financial results of companies like Mitchell & Butler, Balfour Beatty, and Broadcom, highlighting trends in the defence and semiconductor industries.

In this week’s Good Money Guide podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss this week’s buy now, pay later Klarna budget statement, and whether it makes a December rate cut more or less likely. They also look at the latest results from easyJet and Kingfisher and look ahead to numbers from Balfour Beatty and Frasers Group.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss this week’s UK CPI data and whether it makes a December rate cut more or less likely. They also look at the latest Q3 numbers from Nvidia as well as looking ahead to next week’s budget.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss this week’s disappointing UK economic data, and what it means for another rate cut. They also look at this week’s numbers from Vodafone and Rolls-Royce as well as looking ahead to next week’s UK CPI numbers and earnings from Nvidia and Walmart.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss the latest Bank of England rate decision, as well as a host of retail earnings from Sainsbury, M&S and ABF, as well as recent ITV bid speculation. They also look ahead to next weeks UK Q3 GDP and Rolls-Royce earnings.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss more record highs for US stocks and the FTSE100, as well as the latest Fed rate cut and the hawkish reaction to it. They also talk about the slide in Meta and Microsoft share price on concern over accelerated AI spend, as well as looking ahead to next week’s Bank of England rate decision, and the latest numbers from Diageo, BP, M&S and AstraZeneca.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson talk about how solid earnings, as well as the prospect of another U-turn on tariffs by President Trump is helping to underpin markets as well as push the FTSE 100 to another record high. They also look at this week’s numbers from Netflix and Tesla, and look ahead to next week’s big slate of numbers from Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson look at how markets have reacted to President Trump’s unexpected decision to announce 100% additional tariffs on Chinese goods and whether this escalation in tensions could prompt a deeper sell-off. They also look at this week’s earnings numbers from JPMorgan, and other US banks, as well as looking ahead to next week’s updates from Lloyds, Barclays and NatWest, as well as Netflix and Tesla.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson look at the reasons behind more record highs for the FTSE100, US markets, the German DAX as well as gold and silver. They also look at the drivers behind recent moves in Lloyds Banking Group and the HSBC share price, as well as looking ahead to the start of US earnings season with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

In this week’s podcast, Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson look at more record highs for the FTSE100 and US markets, despite another US government shutdown, and why markets are ignoring the political noises, as well as looking back at this week’s numbers from Tesco and Greggs and what they tell us about the UK economy. Plus, why is AstraZeneca moving to New York?

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone and Michael Hewson look at the shifting expectations when it comes to further rate cuts from the Fed and BoE, as well as whether markets are in a bubble given this week’s news of Nvidia’s $100bn deal with OpenAI. They also look at this week’s numbers from Kingfisher and JD Sports, as well as looking ahead to US non-farm payrolls, and results from Tesco and JD Wetherspoon.

In this week’s podcast, Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson return to look at more record highs for US markets after this week’s central bank rate decisions from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, as well as looking at the prospects for the UK economy after another set of poor government borrowing numbers.

They also look at this week’s numbers from Next and what they add to the discussion around UK PLC, as well as looking ahead to Kingfisher and JD Sports H1 results

After a brief podcast break Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson return to look at more record highs for US markets and the FTSE100 this week, as well as looking ahead to next week’s rate decisions from the Bank of England and Federal Reserve, as well as discussing the lack of innovation at this week’s Apple event.

They also discuss the recent numbers from Nvidia as well as looking ahead to the latest results from Next and what they might tell us about the UK consumer.

Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss the odds of a Fed rate cut next month after this week’s US CPI and PPI numbers. They also look at the health of the UK economy through the lens of Q2 GDP, and unemployment numbers before looking ahead to UK CPI, Retail sales as well as earnings from Walmart, Target and Hays.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss the latest decision by the Bank of England to cut rates by 25bps and what it tells us about the UK economy.

They also look back at the latest earnings numbers from Amazon, Apple and Disney, as well as BP, Diageo and IHG and look ahead to next week’s UK Q2 GDP numbers and what they tell us about the UK consumer.

As earnings seasons gets under way in earnest and the 1st August tariff deadline approaches Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss the drivers of company outperformance which is driving the FTSE 100, and US markets to new record highs. We look back at earnings announcements from the likes of NatWest, Barclays, Rolls-Royce, as well as Microsoft and Meta all of which have driven this week’s gains as well as looking ahead to the Bank of England next week.

In this week’s podcast Michael Brown (Senior Market Strategist from Pepperstone) and Michael Hewson discuss what’s driving the new record highs for the FTSE100, Nikkei 225 and US markets, as markets increasingly embrace the prospect of new trade deals, following on from the US/Japan and UK/India deals. This week has seen positive market reactions to the numbers from the likes of ITV, BT Group, Vodafone and Reckitt Benckiser and Alphabet. Could they be a precursor to similar strong numbers next week from the likes of Rolls-Royce, AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft amongst others.

In this week’s episode of The Good Money Guide Podcast, Michael Hewson and Pepperstone’s Michael Brown break down what’s driving global stock markets to record highs, from copper tariffs and surging tech stocks like Nvidia, to central bank decisions and surprisingly resilient miners.We explore:

- Why markets are ignoring Trump’s 50% copper tariff

- Whether Nvidia’s $4 trillion valuation is sustainable

- What the Fed, RBA and RBNZ rate holds mean for investors- M&A action from Merck and Ferrero

- Trouble in the UK: rising unemployment, vanishing bank jobs, and potential tax hikes

- Earnings outlook for EasyJet, Dr Martens, Netflix, and the big US banks