Finance & economics | Buttonwood

The mystery of Britain’s dirt-cheap stockmarket

It might be old and unfashionable, but investors are ignoring surprisingly juicy yields

An illustration of a person waving a pair Union Jacks while being squashed by three large magnifying glasses.
Illustration: Satoshi Kambayashi

It is hard to get a man to understand something, wrote Upton Sinclair, an American novelist, when his salary depends on not understanding it. Hard, but not impossible: just look at those paid to promote Britain’s stockmarket. Bankers and stock-exchange bosses have an interest in declaring it an excellent place to list new, exciting businesses, as do politicians. Yet deep down they seem keenly aware that it is doomed.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Blighted”

From the December 16th 2023 edition

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