Beware of the rise of the populists
As Donald Trump is now the inevitable Republican nomination to run for President of the United States, populists and nationalists around Europe are gaining ground. How will this impact financial markets?
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As Donald Trump is now the inevitable Republican nomination to run for President of the United States, populists and nationalists around Europe are gaining ground. How will this impact financial markets?
The cheaper a fund is, the better the chance it outperforms its peer group, a study by Morningstar has shown.
Nowhere in Europe are US equities as popular as in Germany. More than half of local fund buyers plan to increase their allocation in the next 12 months. But it would be a terrible idea to do so, fund managers speaking at Expert Investor Deutschland warned.
The majority of fund management companies polled this month for Expert Investor’s Fund Manager Sentiment Survey expect US equities to generate negative returns in excess of -5% in dollar terms.
Investors in Europe tend to be overwhelmingly focused on the risk of deflation. However, on the other side of the Atlantic inflationary pressure is building, and the Fed is more than happy to accommodate that, fund managers at Expert Investor Lisbon warned.
The French people are not generally known for their overt optimism, but French fund buyers are defying their cultural inclinations at the moment. They have been more positive on macroeconomic prospects than any of their peers in Europe for two quarters in a row now, and are looking to increase their exposure to risky assets.
European investors reduced their high yield bonds holdings by a net €12bn last winter. But the arrival of spring is heralding a change in sentiment.
Janet Yellen’s Economic Club of New York speech provided a timely reminder that the Fed continues to dictate markets. This contrasts with the waning credibility of her counterparts in Europe and Japan.
The State Street Investor Confidence Index increased to 114.6 in March, up 8 points from February’s 106.6.
The plummeting equity markets in the first two months of this year have left their mark on the mood of Finnish fund buyers. Half of the investors interviewed by our researcher in Helsinki last week do now have a negative macroeconomic outlook. This is up from just 10% when the Finns were polled previously in…
Smart beta ETFs charge investors up to three times as much as plain-vanilla index trackers, according to newly published research by Morningstar. This disparity is not justified by the additional cost of constructing and calculating a ‘smart’ index, and is a severe drag on performance. Therefore, investors should think carefully before investing in a smart…
The United States accounts for around half of the global equities index so whether you like the asset class or not you can never ignore it, or eliminate it from a portfolio.