After the China-led carnage of the week before, doom and gloom once again dominated as the bears’ cries began to ring out in chorus.
First there was the call by the RBS European rates analyst, Andrew Roberts to ‘sell everything except high quality bonds. Then Bank of America Merrill Lynch recommended going long cash and volatility. And, if that wasn’t enough, Societe Generale’s Albert Edwards suggested the S&P could fall below 600.
In other words, the markets were thick with rumours of recession, but while the bears’ views held sway, there were a number who were more sanguine, including JP Morgan’s Stephanie Flanders and Neptune CIO, James Dowey.
In fact, Dowey’s view that there remain simple solutions to China’s troubles was the second most popular story on the site during the week.
First place, however, was the preserve of SLI’s dismissive view of the Shell BG deal as ‘destructive’ that came during another week of wilting oil prices.
On the corporate front, the news was mixed, as were share prices. Retailers bore the brunt of the news flows with numbers out from the likes of Sainsburys and Tesco. Asset managers too got in on the act, with Jupiter, Ashmore, Miton and Polar Capital releasing trading updates. Speaking of financial services asset managers, BlackRock announced sweeping management changes, while Deutsche Bank’s wealth division set its sights on a top five spot.
Other stories we liked
Alex Sebastian continued his interrogation of the year’s main consensus calls with an examination of Japanese equities, asking whether or not investors are clutching at straws? While Gary Shepherd looked at the reasons Brexit is likely to remain at the forefront of investment discussions in 2016.
An attempt to help the FCA find a long term replacement for Martin Wheatley, got readers (and perhaps, potential applicants) clicking, as did the profile of Brooks Macdonald’s Jonathan Webster-Smith.
People and products
Axa IM handed s new multi-cap UK fund to Chris St John, The AXA World Funds Framlington UK fund will be Axa IM’s first UK equity fund managed by the Axa IM Framlington investment team offered as a Luxembourg-domiciled Sicav.
GCP launched the first UK-focused open-ended Infrastructure fund and River and Mercantile relaunched its UK Equity Unconstrained fund as the UK Dynamic Equity fund, with Philip Rodrigs as lead manager.
