The magazine cover indicator is supposed to be a contrarian signal, notes Buttonwood on Economist.com. The idea is that once the mainstream press gets round to covering a big story or trend, most of the upswing or downswing has already happened. BusinessWeek is known for proclaiming "the death of equities" close to the bottom of a bear market.
Analysts at Citigroup have applied the test to The Economist's covers. They selected 44 from between 1998 and 2016 that appeared to make an optimistic or pessimistic point about a market. The results were "a little chastening": buying the asset on a bearish cover resulted in an 18% return over the following year; selling on a bullish one led to a return of 7.5%.
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ONS: UK house prices hit by September slump amid Autumn Budget uncertaintyThe latest Land Registry data shows Budget rumours are hitting the UK housing market
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Young pension savers expect to ‘need £100,000 plus a year’ for a good retirementSome under 40s are aiming high for their pensions, reckoning they will need a pot big enough to generate six figures a year in retirement income, according to new research. Those much closer to taking their pension expect to need far less.
