Financial markets have lacked direction in recent months, with the main equity indices all very close to where they were at the start of the year. Macroeconomic data are not strong enough to reinvigorate the bull market, yet not sufficiently weak to stoke fears of recession.
Seven years of equity rises, have we really seen any evidence of complacency that ended previous bull markets?
As the month of May trundles into view investors will be thinking about the traditional summer-proofing of portfolios, but the shrewdest among them may see more opportunity than danger.
Those who believe that ‘risk-on, risk-off’ is consigned to the past look away now, with record inflows into US high-yield indicating that sentiment has shifted once again to the spicier end of the fixed income spectrum.
Henderson Global Investors’ Greg Jones talks about alpha generation and counter-cyclical strategies.
Portfolio managers of Asia ex-Japan equity funds favour India while avoiding Malaysia and Australia, according to Morningstar.
French asset allocators significantly outperformed their global peers in 2015, while UK managers came in second, new research by Natixis Global Asset Management shows.
Killik & Co has launched Panel Portfolio, a multi-asset service designed for investors with accounts of at least £750,000 ($1.08m, €973m).
The bears have gone back into hibernation, and European equities will return in excess of 5% in the remainder of the year. That’s the almost unanimous opinion of international asset managers.
Investor appetite for cash grew markedly in 2015, the latest set of Investment Association fund statistics show.
Investors are often accused of buying into a trend too late, when markets have already gone up a fair bit. But Europe’s fund buyers are putting on a brave face, and are already planning to move back into emerging market equities before they bounce back.
Japanese equities are enjoying a place in the rising sun in terms of the preferences of many investors, but is this a sound decision destined to yield rewards or an act of desperation?
