Duncan Lamont
@duncanlamont2
I post cool charts about markets and investing. Scottish and into running. Head of Strategic Research @Schroders. Not investment advice
We should be better at saying how great Britain is at building great businesses Biggest venture capital market in Europe, the world’s third largest We have research institutions + entrepreneurial talent + a global financial centre Sentiment influences outcomes. Let’s be more positive!
Today I have mostly been…playing Yahtzee Which has unintentionally (you’ll have to believe me on this) been a fantastic way for the kids to learn probabilistic thinking Even conditional probabilities! Adjusting the prob of an outcome based on what you got on your first (and second) roll
Needless to say my children enjoyed the word for waterfall too I felt the brunt every time we saw a sign for one Not quite as picturesque but we did have a lot of fun swimming/jumping in this river about 30 mins up the road
We’re at a glamping site just outside of Rovinj in istria for the next 4 days. Holiday started in Dubrovnik and been working our way north The water everywhere has been next level in terms of clarity This was at Badja near korcula
Sadly no swimming allowed. Keeps it pristine but looked oh so inviting The colours were wild
Mega waterfall day at Plitvice lakes nature reserve. Unreal water colours
I might be cooking dinner exceptionally or I might be burning it. Who knows
Not a bad spot to watch the match from. Beach bar at the Croatian camping/glamping site we’re staying at
📊Q2 update: share buybacks continue to rise outside the US Watch those Japan + Euro trend lines. At this rate it won’t be long before Japan catches the US. What a change in the world order that would be Fundamentals matter but so does supply/demand. Flows before pros as Tracy Alloway likes to say
Yes I know there’s a football match on but the one thing English and Norwegians can all agree on is that I did well with my apartment research on booking.com
Would you have believed it if someone told you on January 1st: Mag 7 would return 0% with Microsoft down 23% Despite that, US equities would be up 10% US small caps would do even better, up 23% EM 24% Japan 16% And this is all against the backdrop of a war in the Middle-East
📊 A bird's eye view of where 5 equity valuation metrics are currently vs their history, across US, UK, Europe, Japan, EM 100% = most expensive in 20yrs 0% is cheapest in 20yrs What do you notice? Source: Schroders Equity Lens July 2026
Those of us in the industry could do with reminding ourselves of this on a regular basis, myself included
Bonds right now are a bit like Trent Alexander Arnold Not very reliable in defence but yield something in attack Tuchel left Trent at home. I don’t think you should do the same with bonds (sorry…) www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/int...
What equity sectors/styles perform best when inflation is high and rising and when growth is weakening? A cool, new, rich, 4-dimensional way to present the data (not really mobile optimised though)
This is where I’m sleeping tonight Why do I have to be so Scottish with money…
Can’t wait to see how my new summer outfit goes down in the office
Valuation multiples on small/mid private equity buyouts ~50% disc. to small cap stocks, ~40% disc. to large buyouts + more scope for operational improvements than with bigger companies + if buy and grow/build you get to sell as a larger company, benefit from valuation uplift on larger deals
As a Scotsman I have to say that my week in Boston was one of the best of my life. Sheer joyousness The love from the locals. The love back to them. The love amongst ourselves. A complete bubble where everyone put aside their usual grievances and forgot about the real world for a moment. So good
This will be one of the more unusual legacies that Scotland fans leave behind in Boston
Overseas investors bought near-record amounts of US corporate bonds in March (left chart). The trend is up This is despite - supply soaring (AI capex) - historically tight spreads - waning demand for Treasuries Source: Schroders Credit Lens
FridayChartQuiz: this is the FIFA ranking for what country? Quite the rollercoaster. From 92nd to 7th in just over 10yrs The choice of spacing on the y and x-axes shows originality 🤣 Rooney called for Scotland to make the quarter finals. Could meet England there. So the semis it is then!
Just how narrow has this year’s rally been in emerging markets? Very Only about 20% of stocks have outperformed the index, 80% have underperformed (maths, innit 👨🎓) TSMC, is 14% of the index. That’s nearly 3x Nvidia’s weight in MSCI World. Add in Samsung and SK Hynix and you’ve got another 14% 1/2
If you’d told someone a few years ago that China would fall to only the third largest stock market in emerging markets they’d have laughed at you But that’s what an AI cycle and 180% 2026 EPS growth forecast for the EM IT sector has done