Whether Bill Gross, the Bond King', who recently left giant fund manager Pimco, can live up to his reputation in his new job at Janus is yet to be seen. But "he remains one of the most educated, engaged and insightful students of markets", says Lauren Rublin in Barron's.
After the crash, Gross warned us to expect a weak recovery a new normal', as he called it. So far he's been right, and he doesn't expect that to change soon.
The US is unlikely to shift into a higher gear. The rest of the world is "at zero or less", and America isn't an island. It is also "still highly levered" (borrowing is high), while the ageing population reduces demand. "Most boomers need health care, but they don't need another house or a third car."
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Meanwhile, technology has hurt job growth "Apple is a wonderful company, but it doesn't hire as many people as the old General Motors" and globalisation appears to have hit its limits.
Central banks will have to keep interest rates "lower for longer", because of all this, and don't expect rates to return to their old highs. Bonds protect "against inflation and disaster", says Gross. "My low-growth outlook suggests [they] will earn their coupon."
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26 million Brits at risk of retirement shortfall if state pension triple lock were to be scrappedCurrent projections of pensioner poverty assume the state pension triple lock will be in place for the next 50 years. Critics say this is unlikely and revised figures showing pension undersaving among millions more people give a truer picture of the crisis
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Reeves calls on regulator to investigate steep private dental chargesThe chancellor has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look into the high costs of dental treatment amid concerns over rising prices which essentially locks people out of the system
