First State's Harman: Why our exposure to equities and corporate credit is at an all-time low

Volatility is a healthy development

clock • 2 min read

This year has seen a return of volatility in financial markets - and we see that as a healthy development.

This has been seen across a number of asset markets, namely government bond yields, equity markets and most recently emerging market currency volatility with a stronger US dollar. Our long-held view is that stronger growth will lead to higher volatility in financial markets, as central banks start to tighten. This view, in combination with high asset valuations, has resulted in the lowest allocation to equities and corporate credit in the history of our Diversified Growth fund.  We exited all corporate bond exposures in Q4 2017 and recently removed our long-held position in Italian...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Multi-asset

Multi-asset teams sentiment indicator: Japanese equities most favoured in Q4

Multi-asset teams sentiment indicator: Japanese equities most favoured in Q4

Scopic Research monitors the sentiment of multi-asset teams towards different growth, defensive, and diversifying assets on a quarterly basis. The sentiments are based on a 12-month view. Investment Week has joined with Scopic to share the results on...

Paul Ilott
clock 07 December 2023 • 5 min read
Partner Insight: How interest rate moves drive bond returns

Partner Insight: How interest rate moves drive bond returns

Markets might have got their interest rate outlook wrong, but the case for holding global bonds as part of a multi-asset portfolio remains as strong as ever

Partner Insight: Staying the course - combining strategic and dynamic asset allocation to deliver better outcomes for your clients

Partner Insight: Staying the course - combining strategic and dynamic asset allocation to deliver better outcomes for your clients

Tara Jameson, Co-Manager of the Schroder Global Multi-Asset Portfolios
clock 03 November 2023 • 8 min read
Trustpilot