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.
15 January 2020
FAANGs look to get back on the growth track in 2020In the past year the aggregate market capitalisation of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google’s parent Alphabet has gone up by 45%, or almost $1.3 trillion, even as combined consensus earnings estimates for 2019 and 2020 have fallen by 7% and 8%, or $10.7 billion and $9.6 billion respectively.
This combination of soaring share prices and...
7 January 2020
The case for and against US equities as Q4 reporting season approachesThis is already the longest-running US equity bull market in history and investors will be looking to the upcoming fourth-quarter reporting season for clues as to what 2020 may bring, especially as a further 8% advance from the S&P 500 would make this the biggest bull market of all, in terms of capital gains.
S&P 500 index Start Finish Duration...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook - Chapter one: UK PoliticsBrexit can already lay claim to the scalp of two Conservative Party Prime Ministers, in the form of David Cameron and Theresa May, although Boris Johnson’s General Election victory in December looks to reduce the chance of him becoming the third, at least in the very short term. Like him or loathe him, financial markets seemed pleased at...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook - Chapter two: USA PoliticsHard to believe as it may be, the November 2020 Presidential Election is not the biggest story in Washington, DC as the New Year begins. Instead, America’s capital is gripped by the impeachment proceedings brought by the Democratic Party against President Donald J. Trump, on two counts, relating to the so-called ‘Ukrainegate’ scandal –...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook – Chapter three: Japan PoliticsHe has made it. No sooner had Prime Minister Shinzō Abe overseen Japan’s successful stints as the host of both the G20 meeting in Osaka and the Rugby World Cup than he bagged another glittering prize. The Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) leader became his country’s longest-serving modern-time Prime Minister in mid-November 2019.
With this...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook – Chapter four: Asia PoliticsHard to believe as it may be, Hong Kong found a way of upstaging even the trade tensions between America and China and the further cooling of relations between Japan and Korea in 2019. The Occupy Central movement wrote the headlines for most of the second half of 2019 as Hong Kong residents protested against a law introduced by Hong Kong...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook – Chapter five: Western Europe PoliticsThe year 2019 began with Donald Tusk, the outgoing President of the European Council, saying that he thought there would be a “special place in hell for those who promoted Brexit without even the sketch of a plan”.
Relations with the UK could remain tense for some years to come but Britain is not on its own in this respect. The EU’s...
7 January 2020
World Investment Outlook – Chapter six: Emerging Markets PoliticsRussia remains the subject of certain EU (and American) economic sanctions and Ukraine remains a bone of contention in more ways than one. Eastern Europe’s influence could go global in 2020 because Ukraine’s President - Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor and comedian who created a show about a fictional leader of his country - is embroiled...
27 December 2019
The best and worst performing global stock markets in 2019The best performers in 2019 have been Russia, Greece and Dubai-Kuwait, with Brazil, Italy and America next in line. The US represents almost two-thirds of global market capitalisation so a 27.4% gain from its stock market, as benchmarked by the S&P 500 index, helped the FTSE All-World to rise by more than a fifth during the course of the year.
It...
20 December 2019
Best and worst performers in the FTSE 100 in 2019The FTSE 100 may have confounded a few doubters with a 17.2% total return in 2019 (including the reinvestment of dividends), despite concerns over weak economic growth, Brexit and the December general election.
Sceptics will counter by pointing out that the UK still underperformed on the global stage, lagging the FTSE All-World’s total return by...
