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.
30 July 2024
FTSE hit by Diageo share slump as drinks giant sees problems grow and Greggs bucks negative retail trend with solid growth“A catastrophic session from Diageo served to drag down the FTSE 100 index, which was also hit by Glencore’s weak production update,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“ BP’s strategy of pre-releasing bad news seems to have worked as that lowered expectations in the run-up to its results. The shares bounced back after second quarter...
16 July 2024
Are UK equities ready for a return to favour?From the point of view of those investors with exposure to the UK equity market, the bad news is that aggregate consensus forecasts for the members of the FTSE 100 index fell by 4% in the first six months of this year, to £247 billion from £258 billion.
The good news is that £247 billion figure is still a record high, and it therefore helps to...
8 July 2024
US equities look to second-quarter earnings for next leg up“The second-quarter results season is upon us and investors will be looking for upbeat commentary, positive earnings surprises and optimistic outlooks for the second half of the year to help the headline American stock market indices set new all-time highs,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“Such good news may be needed, however...
5 July 2024
What will markets expect from the new UK government?Markets were already braced for a Labour win, hence why the pound and gilt yields barely moved on the election result.
Financial markets usually give their quickest and most visceral judgements on a country’s economic and political stability (or otherwise) via its currency and the rate of interest at which they charge it to borrow through the bond...
3 July 2024
Takeovers and buybacks supplement flatlining dividend forecastsAfter flirting with a new all-time high in May, the FTSE 100 is now paddling sideways, as it awaits both the result of July’s general election and, perhaps more importantly, the Bank of England’s first interest rate cut. Surprise cuts from Sweden and Switzerland, and an early move from the European Central Bank, are helping to set the tone but...
26 June 2024
AO World sets about delivering the goods (more profitably)With its leading market share in major domestic appliances, AO World’s problem has never been delivering the goods, but doing so in a profitable way, and as a result the latest set of full-year results represents a major step forward.
The shares are still miles below 2014’s flotation price of 285p, let alone 2021’s pandemic peak north of 400p but...
28 May 2024
How UK equities have responded to past general electionsGiven the rate at which prime ministers (and chancellors) seem to come and go, investors may be rightly inclined to avoid second-guessing the result of the next general election, which is now set for Thursday 4 July.
The lack of available cash in the government’s kitty, the Conservatives’ occasionally frayed relationship with ‘business’ and the...
9 May 2024
Key reasons why the FTSE 100 is back in favour with investorsThe FTSE 100 may feel friendless, given the ongoing concerns about firms delisting from the UK to join other exchanges, the lack of new flotations and cries for fresh initiatives to boost interest. But the UK equity market’s premier index is setting new all-time highs all the same, perhaps to adage that, ‘you can have good news and cheap stocks...
29 April 2024
Dividend forecasts for 2024 flounder even as FTSE 100 offers enticing cash yieldHaving hit new record highs in 2024, the FTSE 100 might have wider appeal to investors, including accumulators of income, given a prospective dividend yield of 3.8% for 2024 (and 4.1% for 2025), especially as those figures exceed the prevailing rate of inflation.
Some investors may feel those dividend yields stack up relatively well compared to the...
30 January 2024
Analysts more bullish than ever on UK stocks in 2024As we enter 2024, 59% of all analysts’ recommendations are buys and just 8% are sells for constituents of the FTSE 100, the highest and lowest scores over the past ten years, respectively. For the FTSE 350 index 62% of all recommendations are positive ratings and just 7% negative ones, again the highest and lowest percentages since 2015.
Momentum...
