According to the firm’s Global Investment Trends survey which polled 20,706 retail investors across 28 countries in March, the average expected rate of return expected over the next 12 months is 12%. However, they believe to achieve these returns by investing almost half of their new investments in low-risk assets. European investors expect a slightly lower…
According to the group’s ETP Landscape publication, emerging market equity products saw $2.9bn in inflows during the month, as momentum for EM funds, particularly those with exposure to China and India picked up. As reasons for the growth in momentum, Blackrock cited the cautious tone of the Federal Reserve in March and April, hope for…
Some 36% of fund selectors our researcher met on her recent trip to the island plan to sell part of their US equity holdings, while none want to increase their allocation. Very much in line with Pan-European sentiment, the asset class to benefit most from the US equity selling will be European stocks. A little…
Close to half of the audience of fund selectors assembled in Lisbon believed financial markets underestimate the risk of Greece leaving the eurozone (though at the same time only a quarter thought a Grexit would actually happen. “If some complacency has come into the market we are probably guilty of it as well,” admitted Richard…
Although the Icelandic economy is back on a steady growth path, with GDP growth at 1.9% in 2014, strict capital controls, a relic of the banking crisis which struck the country in 2008, are still in place. Since autumn 2008, Icelandic investors have not been able to move any of their capital out of Iceland.…
Some 57% of delegates at Expert Investor Bilbao last week said they will step up their allocation to convertibles, while none are planning to decrease it. This strong appetite for convertible bonds stands in sharp contrast with other fixed income. Some 56% of fund buyers in the Basque country plan to decrease their exposure to…
£963m (€1.3bn) flowed out of UK equity funds on a net level over the month, compared to an average of £238m in inflows across the previous 12 months, while Europe ex-UK funds topped the best-sellers list with £663m in inflows compared to an average of £11m per month for the previous 12. “The last time…
Some 41% of interviewees told us they will (further) increase their allocation to European equities. This is similar to last September, but with the important difference that all fund buyers we met have increased their allocation to European equities in the meantime. So those who will decrease their allocation will do that from an overweight…
“I don’t think rating agencies are corrupt, I believe they are incompetent,” Healey continued. Their analysts are often inexperienced as they are often quickly poached by investment banks, he explains. “They have a very opaque structure as well. All their decisions have to be reviewed by investment committees, which are populated by business people, not…
Inflows into alternative Ucits funds broke an all-time record for the second consecutive month in March. According to Morningstar’s European fund flows data, investors poured in €8.7bn over the month. Total net inflows in the first three months of the year now total € 19.8bn. Multistrategy funds remain the most popular category, with €3.3bn in…
When we asked a crowd of Belgian fund selectors back in January about the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro, only 13% deemed that likely to happen. At our Pan-European Congress in Rome last month, the share of Grexit-believers had almost tripled to 37%. At Expert Investor Denmark earlier this week, it exceeded 50%…
Nearly all fund selectors in the country are active and sophisticated users of passives. The share of the portfolio reserved for passive strategies varies greatly, from 7% up to 70%, but is generally on the rise. None of the interviewees will decrease their allocation to index-trackers, and four in ten will increase it in the…
