Giovanni Becchere
Head of Multi-Assets, ABN AMRO Investment Solutions. Based in: Paris, France
“Despite the slowdown in economic growth and adjusted outlook for company earnings, sentiment in equity markets remains upbeat. Major central banks are refraining from further monetary tightening and US consumer spending should continue to provide support to the economy. All in all, the global economic picture remains balanced. We reiterated our neutral stance on equities. On the other hand, anticipating a weaker US dollar and given persistently low interest rate levels, we decided to further diversify the portfolio by taking a position in gold at the expense of cash.”
Luca Dal Mas
Senior fund analyst, Aviva Investors. Based in: London, UK
“We have witnessed significant changes in the monetary stance of the Fed and ECB. Following a downgrade in their forecast for economic growth and a more modest inflation picture, both indicated that they are not going to hike rates for the remainder of the year. The ECB also announced a new round of financing for the local banking sector. Following this decision, we lost conviction in our European banks allocation and decided to close it. We introduce an allocation into European ABS through the Twentyfour Monument Bond Fund, which offers an attractive income yield.”
Kelly Prior
Investment Manager in the Multi-manager team, BMO Global Asset Management. Based in: London, UK
“A volatile month saw all major markets gain ground despite a lack of obvious good news, but rather the belief that central banks will step in if economic conditions falter. The US led equity markets forward as the Fed revised their outlook for interest rates to the downside, but the best performer was the CC Asian Focus fund. Emerging markets were the laggard, though still making ground. Schroder ISF Japanese Opportunities was the worst performer. We switched from the DNCA Invest Value fund for the Magallanes Value Investors European Equity fund.”
Silvia Tenconi
Multimanager Investments & Unit Linked, Eurizon Capital SGR. Based in: Milan, Italy
“In March, performance was positive. We sold AB European Equity and invested into MFS European Value; we sold Eastspring Japan Dynamic Fund to invest into Baillie Gifford Worldwide Japanese Fund; and we switched from BlackRock Fixed Income Strategy into Eurizon Fund Absolute High Yield. We are taking on some short duration credit exposure while reducing our value bias in Japan in favour of a strong stock picker. We think the economic slowdown may have come to an end and keep a cautious but positive view on risky assets.”
Jean-Marie Piriou
Head of quantitative analysis, FundQuest Advisor, BNP Paribas Group. Based in: Paris, France
“In March, equity markets continued to be supported by central banks dovish policies and the improvement of the business sentiment regarding US and China trade. The risk-on mood picked up and led equities closer to their historical peaks. Yet, at this stage of the economic cycle, the capacity for markets to deliver more upside is fading while downside risks persist. The current allocation is designed to benefit from this environment. Thus, we keep the portfolio intact.”
Lee Gardhouse
Chief Investment Officer, Hargreaves Lansdown Fund Managers. Based in: Bristol, UK
“Once again our top holding was the Lindsell Train Global Equity fund. Quite frankly the performance frightens me – it’s too good. This fund could have been the one that got away. Having failed to buy the fund at launch in 2011 I quickly concluded that I would have a better buying opportunity when market leadership changed. What a fool I was. Only after avoiding for several years did I add the fund to the portfolio. It’s tough enough to identify great managers. To try and time when to own them is, I fear, a performance reducing activity.”
Bernard Aybran
CIO Multi-management, Invesco. Based in: Paris, France
The portfolio went through a couple of switches. One on asset an allocation rationale, as the emerging local currency debt exposure has been split so a dedicated Indian debt holding can be added, on the back of a robust carry. On the equity side, while the regional asset allocation has been kept unchanged, a long-held European equity position has been fully redeemed as the fund manager is about to change. Whereas redeeming on the back of a fund manager change should not be systematic, this fund was highly relying on one single person.”
Paul Hookway,
Senior Fund Analyst, Kleinwort Hambros. Based in: London, UK
“We decided to make no asset allocation changes, retaining our neutral stance. We did make three implementation changes though. We switched Gold Bullion Securities into ETFS GBP Hedged Physical Gold ETC, to reduce our US dollar exposure. Robeco US Premium Equities was reduced with the proceeds added to Loomis Sayles US Growth Equity; we expect growth to outperform given the reversal of rate expectations in the US. Algebris was switched into Pimco Global Investment graded credit; in our opinion its risk/reward profile no longer fitted the strategy.”
Lea Vaisalo
Chief Portfolio Manager, Nordea investments. Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark
“March was another great month for most assets, but economic data continues to be on the weak side and we keep the neutral recommendation between equities and fixed income unchanged. Within equities, we believe the market is too pessimistic on the outlook for Europe and recommend upgrading Europe at the expense of Japan. In the sector strategy, we stay defensive lowering industrials to underweight, raising consumer staples. In fixed income, we keep the current balanced weights taking the more dovish stance among central banks into account.”
