Opinion

Managed futures and trend following strategies became highly popular following the Global Financial Crisis, with skilled manager able to harness the extreme levels of volatility to deliver strong returns. The idea is simple, buy assets that are going up, short assets that are going down. But the decade since has been an incredibly difficult period…

There goes International Women’s Day. In financial markets, many have highlighted notable woman who have made their way to a distinctive and influential status. This is undeniably helpful, though also is an indication one can only find a few women, while everyday the commentary is predominantly from men. One day is not a good benchmark,…

The oldest asset class in the world, direct property, is experiencing something of a renaissance amid a surge in inflation and the pursuit of lower-risk income streams. This was part of the discussion at The Inside Network’s Alternatives Symposium, held in Melbourne. Chris Cornforth from Harvest Hotels took a room of Australia’s leading financial advisers…

With volatility and inflation on the rise, things aren’t looking too good for the near future; that’s the broad view of the Global Macro team at JP Morgan. Speaking at the Inside Network’s Alternatives Symposium, held on February 23, Josh Berelowitz, portfolio manager in the macro strategies team, confirmed our worst fears, saying “traditional beta…

Multi-trillion-dollar global asset manager Amundi this week released a timely commentary to assist investors to navigate the challenging market environment. In this type of uncertainty, it pays to gain exposure to as many different views as possible, with the France-based Amundi offering a unique, on-the-ground, European insight. “The worst-case scenario of a Russian attack on…

Reimagining portfolios for tomorrow’s reality Increasing inflation volatility represents the greatest challenge to investors for a generation. A new regime and the collapse of the financial market status quo requires us to reimagine portfolios. No longer can we rely on yesterday’s logic. “Inflation is the endgame. Just brace for inflation volatility first.” Do we still…

Just a few short months ago, we were asking the question “are equities too expensive?” The threat of rate hikes then switched the rhetoric to “why aren’t bond yields higher?” But now investors face an even more challenging question, according to Kerry Craig, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management: “what do I do…

Gerry Fowler, investment director of multi-asset strategies at abrdn, says everyone will have experienced inflation in some shape or form by now; be it energy bills, food, groceries or the price of cars, inflation is here to stay. “Inflation was considered initially just a purely Covid-related phenomenon. The transport-of-goods inflation went through the roof and…

Returns for the classic 60/40 portfolio are expected to be “uninspiring” for the 2020s, according to Schroders, and investors are rushing towards private markets to recapture some approximation of the returns they’ve enjoyed over the last decade. According to data from Schroders, private equity has on average produced a 2.4 per cent net return above…

The reopening of borders to international travellers over last weekend was naturally cheered as a return to some level of normality. Tourism and hospitality operators (those who were able to hold on, that is) now stand to benefit from both a surge in customers and also the potential to attract new staff. Australia has been…

With our long period of near-zero interest rates seemingly at an end, every investor’s attention turns to the balance of their portfolio. Conventional wisdom is that now is the time to rethink exposure to real estate investments because rising interest rates are a drag on property values and rising inflation benefits other asset classes. There…

The global shift towards decarbonisation is happening and accelerating at a rapid rate, to ensure the removal and reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and to keep temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels. This shift to reduce the environmental impact together with the pandemic saw an acceleration in “green” stimulus…