Defensive assets

The end of 2022 feels a little like a blur of problems, people and red numbers, that’s not even considering what we have just been through.

After years of benign levels of inflation, the “beast” as it is known, reared its ugly head once again in April 2021, just as the world was emerging from the pandemic.

“We spend the majority of our research time on understanding industries,” explained Catherine Allfrey, portfolio manager of Wavestone Capital, when presenting to leading financial advisers at The Inside Network’s Equities Symposium in Perth last month.

“Have we really thought about the investment implications of a world in which inflation is persistent?” That was the question posed by Dr Joseph Lai of Ox Capital.

Bond markets have effectively become the ‘freight train’ of a long series of other assets, with a surge in bond yields pulling nearly every other asset class lower.

The United Nations has described the managers of global real estate assets as ‘one of the most important decision-making groups on Earth’.

Ruffer LLP’s single strategy approach, which is a multi-asset class, diversified fund seeking to deliver consistent returns and limit drawdowns in every market cycle is increasingly rare in an environment dominated by thematics.

The VIX Volatility Index or Fear Index hit a 52-week high of 38.94 last week after $65bn was wiped off the Australian share market.

Amid ongoing elevated volatility, some financial advisers are recommending that investors hold alternative investments, including market neutral funds, which could help cushion portfolios against a broad market sell-off.

The move away from so-called ‘growth stocks’ which began in Q3 2020 is set to continue, with the winter for ‘value investing’ set to thaw according to Colin Graham of Robeco’s Muti-Asset team.

2022 has been a difficult time for most investors, but for none more so than bond fund managers. The New Year’s resolution of global central banks to (finally) aggressively combat accelerating inflation has seen an incredible surge in bond yields in Australia and around the world. A case in point is the Australian 10 Year…

Industry-leading finance data and research consultancy bfinance this week released the results of its “snap” What are investors thinking now? study and survey. Completed amid the geopolitical and market upheaval in March 2022, the survey of 418 institutional investors across 39 countries offers a real-time insight into what they were concerned about. First and foremost…