The European Central Bank (ECB) have opted to leave rates unchanged until 2020. The central bank have opted to prolong raising rates, amid concerns over inflation, geo-political uncertainties such as protectionism, as well as vulnerabilities in emerging markets. In addition, the governing council said it had opted to continue reinvesting the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the asset purchase programme beyond when it begins to raise interest rates. Following the announcement of the decision, Mario Draghi, the president of the bank, held a press conference. In his introductory statement, Draghi outlined the reasons for the council’s decision. He said: “Today’s monetary policy decisions were taken to provide the monetary accommodation necessary for inflation to remain on a sustained path towards levels that are below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. Despite the somewhat better than expected data for the first quarter, the most recent information indicates that global headwinds continue to weigh on the euro area outlook. The prolonged presence of uncertainties, related to geopolitical factors, the rising threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets, is leaving its mark on economic sentiment. At the same time, further employment gains and increasing wages continue to underpin the resilience of the euro area economy and gradually rising inflation. Today’s policy measures ensure that financial conditions will remain very favourable, supporting the euro area expansion, the ongoing build-up of domestic price pressures and, thus, headline inflation developments over the medium term.” Draghi is set to leave his post at the bank in October later this year, after completing his eight-year term. Draghi has been President of the ECB since 2011. Prior to this, he served as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board from 2009 to 2011, Governor of the Bank of Italy from 2005 to 2011. He also worked at Wall Street giant, Goldman Sachs.  

California might be relatively new to the fine wine investment scene, but the Golden State is quickly making up for a late start with some seriously impressive wines. Last year the London International Vintners Exchange, or Liv-ex as it is better known, gave a clear indication of the growing importance of Californian wines when it created a dedicated California sub-index. The California 50 tracks the performance of the previous 10 vintages of the five most-traded Californian wines on the Liv-ex platform. Over the course of 2018 the newly-introduced Liv-Ex California has performed well, closing up 21% which put it well ahead of the Bordeaux Legends 50 and Bordeaux 500 indices which rose just 8.3% and 0.62% respectively. Most serious investors and collectors now have little doubt that California’s top fine wines represent an excellent investment opportunity. Here are California’s most exciting investment-grade wines which ought to be on every investor’s radar. 1. Opus One It’s no exaggeration to describe Opus One as one of the world’s most sought-after wines. This iconic wine was born of a meeting between Californian wine guru Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild, the owner of the iconic Chateau Mouton Rothschild, in Hawaii in the 1970s. Their collaboration brought together the very best of Old World and New World winemaking to create an exquisite Bordeaux-style blend which has set a new standard for California’s youthful wine industry. Easily one of the most well-known New World fine wines, Opus One has become the darling of the Californian fine wine scene with average bottle prices almost tripling from £100 in 2007 to £285 in 2018. 2. Screaming Eagle Screaming Eagle is another of California’s cult investment wines, but its creation story couldn’t be more different from the noble Opus One. Winemaker Jean Philips had sold her grapes to other Napa Valley winemakers before she finally decided to make her own wine in a plastic trash can in 1992. Today the wine has attained legendary status thanks to rave wine critic reviews and only 500 cases of this stunning wine are produced every year, making it hot property amongst serious wine investors. This scarcity and the eternal popularity of the Screaming Eagle brand mean that bottles regularly sell for thousands of dollars and represent an extremely robust investment opportunity. 3. Verite The Vérité estate is based in Sonoma and produces three exquisite wines that each have their place in a wine lover’s heart and cellar. Named La Muse, La Desir and La Joie, these three wines are perennial favourites with wine critics and since 1998 seven have received 100 Parker point ratings. Designed to age and mature beautifully, the wines have enjoyed immense popularity amongst investors and the estate’s La Muse has even been nicknamed the “Petrus of California” thanks to the elegant use of Bordeaux varietals and Sonoma’s cool climate sloping vineyards. 4. Cardinale This sensational winery only creates one wine each vintage which is crafted predominantly from Cabernet Sauvignon along with other Bordeaux varietals. The proprietor of Kendall-Jackson Winery, Jess Jackson, made the first vintage of this wine in 1983 and since then it has developed a reputation as one of the most representative fine wines of California with fruit sourced from prime vineyards in both Sonoma and Napa. described by Robert Parker as “one of the flagship wines of the brilliant California visionary and vineyard owner Jess Jackson”, this inspired bottling is truly one to watch for serious wine investors. 5. Lakoya Last but not least is another Kendall-Jackson project, the sensational Lakoya wines which are single vineyard 100% Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings from some of California’s finest sites in Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain District, and the Spring Mountain District. The stunning terroir in each of these sites offers the ideal cool climate and harsh growing conditions to create stunning wines which have excellent ageing potential. Currently not as well-known as some of the bigger names on this list, these wines offer an incredible investment opportunity and are expected to repay investor loyalty handsomely in years to come.

Highlands Natural Resources announced it has raised £525,000 to further develop its cannabis venture, Zoetic. The company said that members of the Schrader family have subscribed for 1,000,000 new ordinary shares, priced at 10 pence each. The Schrader family own Schrader Oil Co., which is the operator of the convenience stores that will soon stock Zoetic’s retail cannabidiol products. In addition, Highlands Natural Resources also revealed the exercise of 5,000,000 warrants in the Company, which have been placed by Turner Pope Investments. The warrants are set to expire later this month on June 30. The total proceeds of the two transactions totals £525,000, and will be used to boost Zoetic business, a new venture that the company announced earlier this year. The firm confirmed that an application is set to be made for an additional 6,000,000 ordinary shares to be admitted to the London Stock Exchange. Admission is expected to go ahead on the 12 June 2019. Highlands Natural Resources is listed on the junior AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. It specialises in oil and gas technology. The firm has projects across the U.S states including Colorado, Kansas and Montana. Shares in Highlands Natural Resources (LON:HNR) are currently down -3.15% as of 11:21AM (GMT).