Asset Allocator

What with the strong performance of the US market driven by a handful of tech stocks and the looming presidential election, it might feel at times that the US is never far from the news. So on this week's podcast, which is supported by Artemis, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Cormac Weldon, head of US equities at Artemis, to dissect matters. They discuss the state of the US economy,...

There has been a lot of talk about concentration risk and the rise of the Magnificent Seven stocks but this week we talk to Richard Philbin, chief investment officer for investment solutions at Hawksmoor, who takes a different view and argues in favour of US concentration risk. He joins Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe and they also discuss the challenges of the outsourced chief investment officer...

US equities did very well during 2023 which means valuations are now high. This raised the question of what the investment case might be for investing in stocks which might be overvalued. In this edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast, which is sponsored by Artemis, Joseph Wilkins and David Thorpe are joined by Alex Harvey, senior portfolio manager at Momentum. They discuss US equities, the outloo...

The start of the year sees the publication of the traditional letter from Terry Smith, manager of Fundsmith Equity - the biggest fund in the UK retail market and one of the most popular in the Asset Allocator database. Fundsmith remains popular despite its three years of underperformance and this week David Thorpe, Joseph Wilkins and Dave Baxter get together to discuss why. They also discuss the m...

The world of fixed income investing has been in flux for several years due to a succession of events including the 2022 "mini" Budget, rising interest rates to tackle spiralling inflation and wider political instability. This week we are joined by Stephen Snowden, head of fixed income at Artemis and manager of the Artemis Corporate Bond fund - the most popular corporate bond fund in our database,...

James Penny, chief investment officer at Tam Asset Management, talks to Asset Allocator funds correspondent Joe Wilkins and Investors Chronicle's Dave Baxter about market distortions over the past 12 months and where investors should allocate in 2024. While the so-called 'Magnificent Seven' are "priced for absolute perfection", according to Penney, some economists still think there will be a hard...

In this first edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast of 2024, which is supported by Artemis, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by Jason Day, senior investment manager at Abrdn. They discuss how Jason is viewing fixed income as we enter the new year with yields having pushed higher over 2023 and why he thinks this represents a "major reset". Jason then explains his thinking on UK equities...

As the year draws to a close, Dave Baxter, David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins gather around a microphone with some mince pies to discuss a recent report into the fastest growing DFMs and the UK equity funds which have lost and gained popularity among allocators. They also make some outlandish predictions for 2024 in what is Asset Allocator's final podcast of 2023. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a for...

At the start of 2023 it seemed rising interest rates were putting an end to the golden era of tech stocks, but these companies have actually surged with the Nasdaq up 47 per cent so far this year fuelled by the explosion of interest in artificial intelligence. This week David Thorpe and Joseph Wilkins are joined by David Coombs, head of multi-asset at Rathbones, to debate whether this AI-fuelled s...

This week David Thorpe and Dave Baxter are joined by contributor Joseph Wilkins. They discuss the shifts in allocation seen in cautious portfolios in recent months, with equities down and fixed income remaining static. They also discuss the fact DFMs have been finding it particularly hard to pick out-performing Japanese equity funds plus they consider the rising popularity of M&G Japan. The As...

This week David Thorpe is joined by Haig Bathgate, head of investments at Atomos, to discuss why he's so positive on China at the moment and the potential impacts of the geopolitical tensions between China and the West. They also discuss the recession outlook for the West and whether we have reached peak rates in the US and UK. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a fortnightly series aimed at discretio...

This week David Thorpe, contributing editor of Asset Allocator, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, discuss the most popular funds held in income portfolios. They look at the UK equity income funds which are attracting the most attention and then they look further afield at the use of emerging market funds for income and the role of China. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a fo...

This week David Thorpe, contributing editor at Asset Allocator, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, are joined by Roger Aliaga-Diaz, global head of portfolio construction at Vanguard. They discuss the challenges posed to products like Vanguard Lifestrategy by the breaking of the correlation between equities and fixed income, and whether this shift is likely to be permanent o...

Asset Allocator has recently started gathering and analysing DFM sentiment to different asset classes. In this week's edition of the podcast David Thorpe, contributing editor of Asset Allocator, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, have a chat about what we found. They discuss the fact allocators are overwhelmingly positive towards Japanese equities and they debate whether th...

The Asset Allocator Podcast is back from its summer break, but two of its hosts are not: deputy editor Damian Fantato sits in while Dave Baxter and David Thorpe are away to have a chat with Alex Funk, chief investment officer at Schroder Investment Solutions. They discuss the current state of fixed income and why Alex has been buying emerging market debt, they explore some of the equity market tre...

In this episode, Giles Parkinson, senior fund manager at Close Brothers Asset Management and David Baxter, funds editor at Investor's Chronicle, speak to Asset Allocator's contributing editor David Thorpe about the response to rising yields across the market in 2022. Investors' Chronicle readers have also felt the same concerns about fixed income in 2022. But what are the real safe haven plays? Th...

Since we have passed the half way point of 2023, Asset Allocator contributing editor David Thorpe and Damian Fantato have a chat about how balanced portfolio allocations have changed over the course of the year to date and over the past 12 months. They discuss the uptick in allocations to global funds and the changing balance between equities and bonds. They also discuss how allocators have been a...

Last week Simon Evan-Cook made his formal return to the multi-asset sector by launched the Downing Fox model portfolios. Evan-Cook came to prominence as a senior member of Premier Miton's multi-asset team, which he was a member of for 14 years before leaving in 2021. As he launches his new multi-asset proposition, Evan-Cook joins David Thorpe and Dave Baxter to discuss what he's trying to do diffe...

This week, while David Thorpe is on holiday, Dave Baxter and Damian Fantato have a chat about China and the most popular Asia Pacific funds among DFMs. They also discuss the strong start to 2023 which Japanese equities have had, and how allocators seem indifferent to this. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a fortnightly series aimed at discretionary fund managers, fund selectors and wealth managers,...

The members of the Asset Allocator 100 Club 2023 have now been published and this week David Thorpe, contributing editor at Asset Allocator, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, have a chat about the funds which have made the grade. They discuss the success of smaller funds and firms this year and the fact investment trusts have had a more successful year in 2023 than in last...

UK equities have faced month after month of outflows going back years, but some funds have attracted interest from DFMs during that period and some funds have not. In this episode, which was recorded live on LinkedIn, David Thorpe, contributing editor on Asset Allocator, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, have a chat about the funds which fall into those categories. They al...

**NEWS**  On May 25 at 11am we will be recording a live, interactive edition of the Asset Allocator Podcast on LinkedIn. Sign up here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7056959728886673409/about/ There is an ongoing debate at the moment between those who are proofing against inflation, and those who are proofing against a recession. Can portfolio managers do both at the same time? This week Dav...

This week Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, and David Thorpe, investment editor on FTAdviser, have a chat about Asset Allocator's recent coverage of equity income funds and concentration risk. They then move on to discuss the state of income portfolios more broadly and they discuss the continued outflows from UK equities, and whether the UK market is too focused on dividends o...

Rising inflation has been one of the challenges facing investors over the past year or so. But as this appears to slow, where do we stand? This week David Thorpe, contributing editor on FTAdviser, and Dave Baxter, funds editor on the Investors' Chronicle, have a chat with Dan James, head of asset management at Charles Stanley, about portfolio construction in inflationary times. They discuss income...

This week Damian Fantato, deputy editor of Asset Allocator, sits in with Dave Baxter off sick. He and David Thorpe have a chat about cash levels in DFM portfolios and how that has changed recently. They also discuss the fallout of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and how some of the most popular US equity funds among DFMs have large exposures to financial stocks. The Asset Allocator Podcast is a...