The banker was lip-wobbling into his beer. (It would have been Château Lafite, but times are hard.)
“The market has taken a firm view,” he said. “It hates us.”
He wasn’t referring to bankers in general – that’s for the wider public – but to investors’ attitude to UK shares.
For ages solice has been taken from the notion that since London stocks are so obviously undervalued, the big boys would at some point realise what a great buying opportunity that represented and the values would correct.
Part of this idea was that it was mainly mean foreigners taking such a downbeat view on our prospects. Hah, they’d be sorry.
Once inflation calmed and interest rates started to go down, equities would surely be back in favour, and patriotic Brits who could see that coming would be the clear winners.
This wishful thinking takes a bash this morning with news that Legal & General, which at £1.3 trillion is the biggest manager of assets in the Square Mile, is selling shares and buying bonds.
Chief investment officer Sonja Laud tells the FT that L&G is prepping for a “significant” downturn in the UK economy, with recession inevitable while borrowing rates stay high.
L&G isn’t some cavalier trading house placing bets on what happened five minutes ago. It is one of the most thoughtful, and in an age of corporate tomfoolery, one of the most decent businesses around.
It is hard to imagine it getting into a public spat with Nigel Farage.
So its views and actions are a bit depressing. But awfully hard to dismiss.
The banker had another one.
