Talking Research

For any investor, there has to be trust in the people you are handing your money to and for the team behind the Responsible AA-rated Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Sustainability fund , this couldn't be more true. The fund's co-manager, Doug Ledingham , joined us on this week's episode, sharing the value they place on building trust and why 80% of their holdings will have an economi...

"We get this really nice balance between a big allocation to bonds, nice and steady, less volatile returns, and then greater exposure to some of the more interesting, high growth areas of the equity market." Having recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Aegon Diversified Monthly Income fund , the fund's manager, Vincent McEntegart , joined Jock Glover on this week's ep...

"What keeps me up at night is the idiosyncratic risk. I think that this year there is going to be a big difference between the have and the have nots, because a lot of companies are going to have to come to the market to refinance, particularly high yield companies. And for some of those companies, they are going find it very difficult to issue debt this year." This week, Nicolas Trindad...

The Bank of England is sticking to its tighter monetary policy,  anticipated to leave interest rates on hold for the first half of the year. The central banks of the emerging markets, on the other hand, have been cutting rates as early as last summer. So, have emerging markets been ahead of the curve? Behind the Screens is back with Natalia Krol, Managing Director and Co-Manager of the AA-rated Ba...

"The consensus reflects a huge dispersion of forecasts for what this year will look like. If you look at the range of growth of estimates for growth this year, it's the widest since the global financial crisis, with the single exception of 2020." Over recent years, investors have been faced with a particularly challenging market backdrop. While the road ahead is not without its hurd...

Energy decarbonisation, urban congestion and digital connectivity are some of the structural growth drivers which differentiate infrastructure from bonds and other areas of the equity market that rely on more cyclical growth. Is now the time for infrastructure? In our final Behind the Screens of 2023, Jock Glover is joined by Peter Meany , First Sentier's Head of Global Listed Infrastructure...

As we look to be nearing the top of the interest rate cycle, the consensus has been 'higher for longer', however should we be asking the question 'higher forever?' In this week's episode, Tom Hanson , Co-Manager of the newly A-rated Aegon High Yield Bond fund , shared his thoughts on where next for interest rates, what this new market environment means for default risk and...

"It gives us a bit of window into the macroeconomic situation. We're not macro economists, we don't make predictions about what's going to happen, but we do hear from companies. What companies are telling us right now is that they're seeing their input costs come down, in some cases very quickly. What that means is that they don't need to pass on those costs as aggres...

“What is really important are the financial characteristics that we look for and the very strong governance and ESG characteristics. In terms of finances, we like strong margins, strong cashflows, we like businesses companies than can fund their growth. That naturally leads to overweight positions in certain sectors. Tech, healthcare, industrials, and consumers are probably the four we tend to be...

"You've got this heads I win, tails I don't lose too much payoff on bonds from this current point." This week, Duncan MacInnes , co-manager of the A-Rated WS Ruffer Diversified Return fund , joins Square Mile's Alex Farlow to share his views on recession risk and how they are positioning the portfolio to take advantage of that. He continues by outlining their two biggest r...

"The reality is there is no solution with zero negative impact, and so it's about that balancing act. What we can try to do, as best as we can, is be transparent about our thought process and how we have arrived at that." RBC BlueBay Asset Management's Tom Mould and My-Linh Ngo joined Jock Glover to discuss the misconceptions of the power of debt investors, the high hurdles the...

The sharp rise in interest rates and the higher inflationary environment has led to the real estate sector falling out of favour over the last 18 months, with fund managers being the most underweight to the sector since the global financial crisis. With central banks pausing interest rate hikes and possibly near their peaks, what does this mean for the investment opportunities in real estate? This...

"Asian economies are the formation of new markets that are being aided by the intersection of technology and rising household incomes. To me, when these two things come together, it creates fertile ground for entrepreneurs and business men to bring their craft, to create new ideas that start resonating." Taking the microphone for this week's Behind the Screens was Sharat Shroff, fun...

"I always say, it's the risk you do not see, that you cannot measure, that matters. It's not the one that everyone debates to the nth degree every day because that usually means it's priced in." For this week's episode we were joined by Aziz Hamzaogullari, Fund Manager of the A-Rated Loomis Sayles U.S. Equity Leaders Fund . Speaking with Jock Glover, Aziz shares the t...

"It's a slowdown, but it's not the economy falling apart." For this week's episode, we were joined by Principal Asset Management's Global Chief Strategist, Seema Shah, who shared her thoughts on the recent market dynamics and the forces behind them, before challenging the notion of a "no landing" scenario. Speaking with Square Mile's Jake Moeller, Seema...

"It's really difficult to go through periods where the market just isn't being logical, but it makes the job even more interesting because there are more and more opportunities out there. Like I said, there has been a four fold increase in the number of companies sitting at a relative discount to their long term average - that means more opportunity for us." In recent years, UK...

"The one thing it always teaches you is no matter how many degrees you have, qualifications you studied for or exams you passed, the markets always find a way to remind you about what you don't know yet and tell you about the importance of staying humble." Joining us for this week's podcast is LGIM's Andrzej Pioch , lead manager of the Recommended-rated L&G Multi-Index...

"The combination of mortgages rolling over, going onto a higher fixed rate, the combination of savings being drawn down, the combination of consumer confidence, business confidence being eroded. All of that, to us, points towards consumers now beginning to show the effects of everything going on." Historically, monetary policy tends to feed through with a lag of 18 to 24 months, however...

This week on Behind the Screens we unearth the opportunities the physical world represents, which are typically underinvested and overlooked by investors. As we look to upgrade our infrastructure to enable a transition to net zero, Royal London Asset Management’s George Crowdy , fund manager on the sustainable investment team, including the 3D Bronze rated Sustainable Growth fund , shares why this...

"Looking forward, some of the smaller companies in Europe are perfectly positioned with some of the best technology to take advantage of the vast transition which is happening now." European equities have been fairly unloved over the last decade, but joining us this week to share why the continent offers exciting growth prospects and income opportunities is Mike Clements and Pras Jeyanan...

"Monetary policy and interest rates work with a lag. Monetary policy takes 18 months, it took them a long time to create the policy and it will take a while for the inflation to come down. The central bank is determined to get it back down to 2%, and there are signs that the monetary policy is working..." Richard Woolnough , manager of the A-rated M&G Optimal Income and M&G Corpo...

UK equities have been in a difficult place for investors for a number of years, however has the new macro environment reasserted long-term trends that put the UK in good stead? Martin Walker, Head of UK Equities at Invesco , joined Jock Glover on this week's episode to discuss how the UK offers access to global equities at a discount, why value will be a more important factor for success and...

"What's been highlighted in recent times, and through Consumer Duty, is  there's an expectation that there's a difference between what you use as a solution in pre-retirement and post-retirement. And I think the regulator is starting to look at this in more detail, and advisers are becoming more aware that there are additional risks in retirement." This week, Shane O'...

“The rationale for adding crypto: we felt there were characteristics similar to gold and at that moment in time, you had the potential for rising institutional adoption, we felt that crypto would come into the mainstream […] and you also had a strong liquidity tailwind. However, when Elon Musk was on Twitter pumping cryptocurrencies, that made us think this is not necessarily going to behave the w...

Growth stocks had experienced a long period of outperformance since the global financial crisis. Last year, however, we witnessed a huge swing to value investing, which prompts the question, is it here to stay? In this week's episode of Behind the Screens , we take a look at the widening valuation gap between value and growth and why sticking to your 'investment philosophy' guns can...