Investment Markets - The City of London

The two largest financial centres in the world are located in London and the USA. Located in relatively concentrated areas, often called the City and Wall Street are a plethora of financial institutions, including institutional investors, global investment banks, Hedge Funds, insurance companies and a host of supporting organisations.

Investment markets are a key part of the financial system, and the FTSE 100 in London and S&P 500 in Wall Street are examples of investment markets covering the biggest public companies. These markets can be extremely volatile, and may not represent the best ways to invest for the long term health of companies which are quoted. In fact, the huge turnover of shares bought and sold and the relatively short life-spans of many companies quoted in the markets indicates that the markets are more about speculation rather than serious investment.

How do the markets work - who are the key actors, what do they do and what drives them? How do they interact with the companies in which they invest? What do they want from companies and their other investments?