Russ Mould is AJ Bell's Investment Director. He has a Master's degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and more than 30 years' experience of the capital markets.
He started out at Scottish Equitable in 1991 as a fund manager, where he had responsibility for the Nordic and Swiss equity markets. In 1993, Russ joined SG Warburg, now part of UBS investment bank, and worked there as an equity analyst covering the technology sectors for 12 years. He has also worked on IPOs and M&A deals. Russ was voted best analyst in the semiconductor sector in 2001 by Institutional Investor and reached the level of Managing Director in 2003 when he became head of UBS' global semiconductor research effort.
A member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (MSCI), Russ is responsible for providing written and video content for customers and clients. He also helps to build the company’s profile in print and broadcast media as part of AJ Bell's wider PR and brand team, working alongside the Investment Committee.
Russ joined Shares Magazine as technology correspondent in 2005 and took on the post of Editor in 2008. He was appointed as AJ Bell's Investment Director in 2013 following the company's acquisition of Shares' parent company, MSM Media. Russ regularly creates content across the AJ Bell website, including the Daily Market Update and Chart of the Week, and he hosts his own 'Breaking the Mould' weekly video series.
Outside of work, Russ is a qualified cricket coach, Italian speaker and avid fan of Doctor Who and NFL.
18 August 2021
Persimmon plots its way to future growthSome economists may be tempted to argue that the housing market is broken having gone through the cycle outlined by former US President Ronald Reagan, who once slammed typical cycle of Government economic policy as a case of ‘If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it keeps moving, subsidise it’.
Yet the management team of...
13 July 2021
Post pandemic rebound of £15.2 billion for FTSE 100 dividendsThe FTSE 100 is currently expected to yield 3.7% in 2021, helped by the first year of dividend growth since 2018. The index’s total dividend pay-out is expected to reach 76.9 billion in 2021, compared to 61.5 billion in 2020.
That equates to a 25% or 15.2 billion post-pandemic rebound, with analysts forecasting a more modest 2.9 billion or 4%...
9 July 2021
Why it is too early to say the inflation trade is overThe Federal Reserve’s allegedly hawkish tilt at its June policy meeting and insistence that the current inflationary spike is ‘transitory’ is giving markets pause for thought and prompting more cautious investors to argue that the shift to cyclicals and ‘value’ stocks is over, says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
But it may still be too...
9 June 2021
Cevian looks to shake up Aviva’s cash return plansAviva’s chief executive Amanda Blanc may be feeling a bit miffed that Cevian is calling for change at the life insurance giant, especially as she can point to a string of disposals, her own promise of enhanced cash returns and a share price that is trading at an eighteen-month high, says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.
But Cevian’s call...
26 May 2021
Royal Mail looking to send Renishaw back to FTSE 250 in latest quarterly index reshuffleThe latest FTSE 100 reshuffle, the results of which are due to be announced after the close on Wednesday 2 June, could be relatively quiet this time around, with just one demotion and one promotion.
Royal Mail and Renishaw are the two firms that look most likely to swap places, although cybersecurity specialist Avast, engineer Weir and even Real...
20 May 2021
Why stock markets are worried about inflationEven a reading of 1.5% inflation in the UK’s consumer price index is giving stock markets the jitters, although that it still a very, very, very long way below the sort of levels which gave investors terrible trouble in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Back then inflation, as measured by the retail price index (for which there is a longer dataset), was...
5 May 2021
FTSE 100 dividend payments swamp cuts and cancellations in AprilHSBC may have disappointed a few optimists who had been hoping for a first-quarter dividend, and BP unveiled a fourth straight year-on-year cut. But the oil major’s move surprised no-one, the bank dangled the possibility of an interim payment, and overall in April UK-listed firms that made or restored payments to investors hugely outnumbered those...
26 April 2021
IMI share buyback takes total this year to over £4bnIMI’s announcement of a £200 million cash return to its investors, alongside an upbeat trading statement, takes the total value of share buybacks announced in the UK this year over the £4 billion mark. A bounce in IMI’s shares suggest that shareholders are happy about the prospect of the windfall and the confidence in the future that it signifies...
21 April 2021
A big week for the big five FTSE 100 banksAll of them are back on the dividend list, three are already buying back shares and the sector ranks as the third-best performer within the FTSE 350 in the year to date, so next week’s results from the Big Five banks will be a key test of their apparent return to favour, and whether it can last. All of this quintet are due to report first-quarter...
15 April 2021
What would help the FTSE 100 get above 7,000 and keep goingAt face value, it does seem odd that the FTSE 100 is trading above its pre-pandemic levels, even if the number of daily new covid-19 cases are back to where they were last March and last September and the vaccination programme continues apace.
But it does make sense if you think that the consensus earnings forecasts for the index are going to be...
