Who predicted January’s market slump?
Dutch and Swedish fund buyers predicted the equity market correction that shook investors in January. Their peers from Denmark and Belgium, however, need to polish their crystal balls.
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Dutch and Swedish fund buyers predicted the equity market correction that shook investors in January. Their peers from Denmark and Belgium, however, need to polish their crystal balls.
Not so long ago, Belgian fund selectors were more optimistic about the macroeconomic outlook than any of their peers in Europe. Even more recently, they were Europe’s biggest buyers of both European and US equities. But times have changed.
The Argonaut Absolute Return Fund, a long/short European equity strategy, is Eddy Vanwittembergh’s favourite fund. He maintains the fund as his largest position in the fund-of-funds he runs at the Belgian wealth management company Merit Capital.
In part two of this video interview, Bart van de Ven of Belgian wealth manager Accuro explains why he doesn’t like absolute return funds and why he prefers to keep some cash on the sidelines instead.
Bart van de Ven of Belgian wealth manager Accuro has slashed his allocation to bonds, he tells EIE’s Tjibbe Hoekstra in a video interview. He believes investors should accept higher volatility in their portfolios to be able to attain their investment goals.
A growing number of fund buyers in the Netherlands and Belgium are turning their backs on absolute return funds. Unconstrained bond funds are not in fashion either.
See below for a slideshow of photos from Expert Investor Belgium, held in Brussels on 24 September 2015.
The vast majority of fund selectors from Belgium expect their bond portfolios to return between 0 and 2% annually over the next 5 years, even though they are adding risk.
Investors around the world are increasing their cash holdings as the economic slowdown in China threatens to drag the world economy down. According to data from Lipper published today, investors poured in a net $77.7bn (€70.5bn) into money market funds in July. This is more than half the total amount flowing into cash funds in…
Tim Peeters is more than just a fund selector. The Belgian multi-tasker explains to Tjibbe Hoekstra why he is stocking up on absolute return funds and tells what eurozone investors should do to mitigate currency risk.
Eddy Vanwittembergh, a fund-of-funds manager at Merit Capital, tells EIE’s Tjibbe Hoekstra how he uses cash as an investment instrument, and why he currently prefers European high yield bonds over their US equivalents.
Belgian fund selectors have become more cautious in their outlook for most asset classes. Macroeconomic optimism is also clearly on the wane.