Giovanni Becchere
Head of Multi-Assets, ABN AMRO Investment Solutions. Based in: Paris, France
“The outlook remains quite positive as global activity is restarting faster than expected. Recent data suggest a sharp recovery after the flash-deep recession. Accordingly we keep our overweight in equities, while remaining prudent on fixed income still subject to a default risk which is not fully priced by the markets. However, as emerging markets equities remain more vulnerable, we took the opportunity to switch out of the AAF Numeric Emerging Equities and increase the exposure to European Equities by adding AAF Candriam Europe Equities.”
Luca Dal Mas
Senior fund analyst, Aviva Investors. Based in: London, UK
“Markets so far have chosen to look through the downturn and focus on the recovery in output and demand, supported by unprecedented policy measures. In this respect, we must highlight the deal reached on the European Recovery Fund, which has also resulted in increasing tailwinds behind European stocks. We have reflected this stance In our portfolios by increasing our preference for European Equities while also adding exposure to our High Yield allocation, an asset class we continue to like.”
Kelly Prior
Investment Manager in the Multi-manager team, BMO Global Asset Management. Based in: London, UK
“Chinese equities were the highlight of the month, after the state media encouraged retail investors to participate in the ‘healthy bull market’. Credit markets continued to grind higher throughout July, with US high yield returning over 4 per cent (USD hedged). TT Emerging Markets Unconstrained finished top of the leader board for the second month running; a weaker dollar supported global emerging market equities and the fund’s growth bias helped it outperform. Eastspring Japan Dynamic once again finished at the bottom.”
Gayathri Devarakonda
Fund Research Analyst, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. Based in: London, UK
“July proved to be a decent month for global markets despite fears of rising infections and a second wave. NASDAQ extended its stellar performance, returning 7.4 per cent in July while S&P finished the month with a 5.6 per cent return. For bond markets it was another month of declining yields with US treasuries returning 1.2 per cent. Silver rallied 34 per cent in July while gold continued its strong performance. Gold was the best performing holding . The EM debt and EM equity exposures were the best performing holdings in FI and equity segments respectively.”
Silvia Tenconi
Multimanager Investments & Unit Linked, Eurizon Capital SGR. Based in: Milan, Italy
“In July the performance of the portfolio was slightly positive, with Allianz Europe Equity Growth being the biggest contributor, followed by Fisher Emerging Markets Equity and JPMorgan Emerging Markets Opportunities.Emerging markets posted the best results, notwithstanding the rise in Covid cases. The weakening of the dollar detracted from performance. Growth outperformed value once again, with no signs of a turnaround. Economic data show the recovery is on track and markets have already risen a lot from the trough.”
Richard Troue
Fund Manager, Hargreaves Lansdown Fund Managers. Based in: Bristol, UK
“Perhaps today we’re reaching the point of euphoria in some assets. Amazon and Tesla, for example, seem unstoppable. Conversely, Japanese value stocks were hammered in July and more broadly ‘value’ has been out of favour for a while. As the saying goes ‘history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes’. Stockmarkets consistently get carried away. This is worth remembering before giving up on value and jumping on the growth bandwagon. It’s why this portfolio is diversified across assets, geographies, and fund manager styles.”
Bernard Aybran
CIO Multi-management, Invesco. Based in: Paris, France
“The balanced portfolio has been brought back onto its neutral 50 per cent equity exposure during July by trimming the money market investments. The momentum and quality factors led performances, leaving value stocks lagging the market, which has been a positive contributor. On the fixed income side, the long held long US duration stance brought a good contribution too. Compared to indices, most holdings in portfolios added value, as the dispersion of performance has been growing wider since risk markets have been rebounding.”
Paul Hookway,
Senior Fund Analyst, Kleinwort Hambros. Based in: London, UK
“Markets were braced for a difficult second quarter reporting season, but so far it has turned out better than expected. Despite this, global markets were modestly down in July. Investors weighed the increasing evidence supporting a second wave of the pandemic. We again decided not to increase our equity allocation, but remain ready to increase risk when markets offer us a better entry point. Leading indicators are increasingly positive, though market sentiment has declined; this is looking more interesting, but we are not there yet.”
Antti Saari
Chief Investment Strategist, Nordea investments. Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark
“Q2 has most likely been a low point for earnings and, as such, the outlook is supportive of risk taking. Given elevated valuations and risks associated with the pace of the recovery, we think the best advice is to stay neutral between equities and fixed income. We do, however, continue to recommend an overweight in the riskier bond segments, namely high-yield corporates and emerging market bonds. While the risks in these segments remain higher than usual, their margins continue, in our view, to compensate for these risks.”
