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…
Anybody who says that China doesn’t have a credit problem is lying because when that much credit is pumped into the system there is no way that every single loan is a sound investment, according to Schroders’ head of Asian equities Singapore, Lee King Fuei.
While European stocks were down some 5% in January, fund flows went the other way. European equities were the only asset class seeing net inflows over the month, apart from absolute return funds.
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…
Multi-asset funds saw their first net outflows in more than four years in January, according to fresh Morningstar data. The outflows were the biggest since October 2008.
Belgian fund buyers, once Europe’s most upbeat, have turned negative on most asset classes, and they have been hoarding cash. European equities is the only long-only asset class holding out against the Belgian bearishness.
Standard Life Investments has reported its net third party inflows leapt to £10.3bn (€13.2bn) in 2015 from just £1.7bn in 2014.
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.
Neil Woodford, the UK equity star manager, has said he believes the United Kingdom’s economy would not be adversely impacted by leaving the European Union, with temporary currency weakness is the only real issue.
The huge losses equity investors have suffered so far in 2016 have dented the investment outlook of Swedish fund buyers. They forecast only modest returns from their equity holdings during the coming years.
Even though Japanese equities were the best performing asset class in 2015, fund selectors have retained an ambivalent attitude towards them. And with good reason, it has now turned out.
Franklin Templeton Solutions vice-president Matthias Hoppe drills down on the risks and rewards of asset classes and the importance of diversification.
