Assessing Cycles and Structural Changes in Markets

Join us as Andrew Smithers and Peter Oppenheimer discuss some of the themes from their recent books: The Economics of the Stock Market (Smithers) and Any Happy Returns (Oppenheimer).

In a conversation chaired by Gillian Tett, a Financial Times columnist and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, both Peter and Andrew will explore investment policies for different expectations, as well the interplay between economic and market cycles. They will share their insights as to what makes share prices change and cover some of the problems with the traditional economic models that exclude key drivers of the stock market.

Registration is from 4.30pm for 5.00pm start. The talks will be followed by networking drinks.

About the Speakers

Peter Oppenheimer is chief global equity strategist and head of Macro Research in Europe at Goldman Sachs. He is a member of the Research Operating Group and the Structured Research Products Group. Peter joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 as European and global strategist and was named managing director in 2003 and partner in 2006. Prior to joining the firm, Peter worked as a managing director and chief investment strategist at HSBC and was previously head of European strategy at James Capel. Peter is also the author of The Long Good Buy: Analysing Cycles In Markets.

Andrew Smithers founded Smithers & Co in 1989. Before that he ran S G Warburg's successful asset management business for many years (now part of BlackRock). A regular financial commentator and columnist, and author of many academic publications, he co-authored Valuing Wall Street with Stephen Wright (March 2000). He wrote Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers (July 2009), and "Can We Identify Bubbles and Stabilize the System?” in The Future of Finance, published by the LSE in September, 2010, The Road to Recovery: How and Why Economic Policy Must Change (September 2013), Productivity and the Bonus Culture (July 2019) and most recently The Economics of the Stock Market which was published by Oxford University Press in March 2022.

Gillian Tett OBE is currently Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, while also writing a weekly op-ed column for the Financial Times on global finance and business. She is also a member of the FT’s Editorial Board, having previously been Chairman of the US Editorial Board and America Editor-at-Large. An anthropologist by training, she is the author of, among other books, Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life and the New York Times bestseller Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe. Gillian has received several awards in recognition of her work, including Columnist of the Year (2014), Journalist of the Year (2009) and Financial Journalist of the Year (2008) at the British Press Awards; the British Academy President’s Medal (2011); and the American Anthropological Association President’s Medal (2022). She was awarded an OBE in the 2024 New Year Honours.