Sharing our convictions

Powell’s hard line may have surprised investors, particularly in light of recent market volatility and increasing geopolitical risk in Eastern Europe, but the Fed’s fear of prolonged higher inflation looks to be trumping those concerns.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Douglas Charleston, explains how ABS markets have performed in Q4 2021 and provides his outlook for the new year.

TwentyFour Portfolio Manager, Charlene Malik, discusses market conditions in Q4 2021 and provides her outlook for the new year.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Gordon Shannon, discusses how the short term bond strategy has performed in Q4 2021 and provides his outlook for the new year.

If 2021 was a bad year for global bond returns, it follows there were few natural shelters to be found within fixed income from the brunt of inflation and rates-driven volatility; the Barclays Global Aggregate Index (a widely used broad measure of bond performance) returned -4.7% in USD terms, while European investment grade credit returned -1.1% despite credit spreads tightening over the course of the year.

Inflation was the dominant theme across financial markets in 2021, and we think it is likely to be a big driver of returns again in 2022.

It has been a very interesting start to the year in the rates sector of the market.

Frank Häusler believes that emerging markets can be a real playground for active investors. “Emerging markets are certainly an investment universe, but not one for a passive approach,” the Vontobel investment strategist said at an investment conference in Zurich. Whereas choices were restricted in the past, nowadays stock markets in emerging markets resemble those in the US.

The first two trading weeks of the year are coming to an end and unlike previous years they have been packed with activity.

Électricité de France (EDF) shares fell by as much as 25% on Friday morning after the French government announced exceptional measures to limit the impact of high electricity prices on French consumers, at the expense of the energy provider – the shares are down over 30% since start of December. 

The EU taxonomy seeks to define what is and is not “sustainable” to support the transition to a sustainable economy. However, news that the European Commission will class certain gas and nuclear power projects as sustainable within the EU taxonomy is politically driven, and out of line with many investors.

Join Vontobel’s Romain Hohl and Andrew Hall of Saxjo to learn more about the energy revolution and its implications. How can the transition advance the green agenda? What solutions are emerging? Will these address policy, technology, supply and investment challenges? And what are the investment opportunities?