Why the UK Stock Market May Be Slowly Dying
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The UK stock market is dying, says Charles Hall, Peel Hunt’s head of research. Lots of money is being pulled out every month by pension funds, wealth managers and individual investors—pushing valuations down and UK companies out. If the level of mergers and acquisitions and private equity takeovers continues at its current rate, he says, there won’t be any small caps left by 2028. Hall joins this week’s episode of Merryn Talks Money to discuss the current state of UK equity markets.
Hall contends that the UK could lose some large caps, too. Muttering among UK executives about how valuations and compensation can benefit from listing in US markets is a rising threat. Healthy capital markets are a vital part of the ecosystem of a healthy economy, he says, adding that here’s a reason why the UK has neither.
“Why has the UK been so moribund for the last 15 years? Why is the US economy and stock market outperforming us the whole time?” he asks. “These sorts of things are driving that.”