Fixed Income:
unfix your thinking.

After a tumultuous 2020, what will the new economic cycle hold for emerging market equities? What is the current pulse of the market and where do our specialists see the greatest alpha opportunities in this asset class?

Last week UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) announced the sale of its final mortgage loan portfolios, bringing to a close a decade long chapter of state ownership. UKAR was set up in 2010 as a ‘bad bank’ primarily charged with housing mortgage loan portfolios from failed lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley following the global financial crisis. UKAR had assets of £94.7bn at the outset, and has now repaid in full the £48.7bn we understand was borrowed from taxpayers. It is therefore a significant milestone to come full circle from years of scathing headlines in the popular press to the full return of these assets to private hands.

The Chinese Year of the Rat brought twists and turns worthy of that shrewd animal. Will the Year of the Ox in 2021 bring an equity bull run? With consumers waiting to splash their cash, investors should be reasonably bullish without losing sight of the risks. We favor equities and have upgraded commodities.

Physically cut off, but more connected than ever – a paradox that is our day-to-day existence now. This trend has performance implications for bonds investing and in this article the Head of Corporate Bonds, Mondher Bettaieb, explains how connectivity and 5G heralds a boon era for corporate bond investors.

In summary things are going quite well, and in this scenario a rise in government bond yields does not necessarily bring about a tightening of financial conditions.

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Treasuries breaking new ground and the potential for them to go higher as higher inflation expectations gathered pace.

The Bank of England have just added to the debate about how much of the recent surge in savings will be deployed in the form of consumption as we return to ‘normality’.

While COVID has been a key source of disruption across multiple facets of our lives, the virus-induced effects have served a useful purpose by accelerating some important business trends that were already underway. We can all agree data proliferation and the continued digitization of the world certainly are not slowing. What's less clear is which companies will benefit.

Chinese equities can offer an exciting and dynamic opportunity, but investors must navigate a complex regulatory environment and quickly changing competitive dynamics. Our research team sheds light on the outlook for e-commerce giant Alibaba, how to approach the A-shares universe and pressing issues investors face in China today.