Blain’s Morning Porridge
Since 2007, through the years of Economic mayhem, market madness, crashes, bubbles, storms, and the Coronavirus, Blain’s Morning Porridge has cut to the heart of global finance and markets with unbiased, unrestrained, brutally practical and pragmatic commentary, explanations and analysis of the major trends and effects.
The Morning Porridge offers subscribers insights on all the factors that influence global markets: business & commerce, politics, the environment, the economy, aspirations, fashion, populism and more. It identifies the narratives driving market activity, looking at macro and micro factors, threats and opportunities, and the delusions that often accompany market moves. Often it goes completely off-piste and seldom follows where other analysts lead. The Porridge would never claim to be comprehensive, nor does it provide regular stock and bond recommendations. Instead, it examines relative values between asset classes, uses common sense and practical tips to equip readers to think about and question what’s really happening in the financial markets, and why.
The Morning Porridge is targeted at investment professionals and is read by over 7000 direct subscribers in investment management, banking and trading roles, plus regulators, central bankers, journalists and even a few politicians. Private investors are very welcome, but should read the disclaimer very carefully.
If you want to know what Markets have done, buy yourself an FT subscription. Alternatively spend thousands on a Bloomberg machine. Or you could read the turgid prose of bank research, devoid of imagination, cleansed of opinions, and written to appease compliance offices – in return your local investment bank will be only too happy to charge your thousands for utterly forgettable twaddle..
But, if you want clues on what might be happening next, and why, then welcome to the Morning Porridge – financial market insights for smart people willing to think about markets!
Bill Blain - Author of the Morning Porridge
Bill Blain is a published author on financial markets, contributor and editor of the Morning Porridge. He is a well-known market commentor, and a practicing investment banker in the alternative private debt and equity sector.
His day job combines his role as Strategist for Shard Capital, the leading investment management firm, and heading the firm’s Alternatives Group – financing Private debt and equity deals, and direct lending transactions. His clients include sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, insurance and pension managers, credit funds and family offices.
Bill’s 36-year plus career in global markets is unique: it includes senior level roles as head of financial institutions and debt capital markets at leading investment firms plus spells as a financial market journalist – despite being dyslexic and utterly unable to spell. Firms on his CV include Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, HSBC and BGC.
He has been closely involved in the growth and development of the global fixed income markets since 1985, and pioneered complex financial products including corporate bonds, bank capital, medium term notes, asset-backed securities and private debt and equity. Somewhere in his attic there is box full of industry awards for things like the most innovative ABS transaction, capital deal of the year, and top MTN firm…
Outside markets, Bill is a passionate sailor and ocean racer, a talentless painter, plays guitar badly, is still learning to play the bagpipes, and once built a train-set in his attic. He is a Trustee of Wessex Heartbeat, a charity that supports victims and the families of cardiac disease.
