Emerging market equities have been a popular topic of discussion when looking ahead to 2018, but is this where investors are headed? Four fund managers outline reasons to remain positive in the emerging and frontier regions next year.
As the year comes to a close, investment managers have started to prepare for 2018. Portfolio Adviser asked a group of top fund selectors to pick one fund to watch in 2018.
The average cash balance held by global fund managers jumped for the first time in four months in December according to the latest BofA Merrill Lynch fund manager survey.
The Bank of England is set to reveal plans which will allow European banks to operate in the UK as normal, even under a “no deal” Brexit scenario.
Rathbones’ Global Opportunities Fund has dropped its UK exposure from 25% to 7% over the past year.
The FTSE 100 has enjoyed the benefits of benign environment throughout 2017, and AJ Bell believes it has the potential to burst through the 8,000 mark for the first time next year.
Investor confidence hit a 12-month high in December according to the latest investor sentiment index from Lloyds Private Bank, with investors becoming increasingly bullish on the prospects for US equities.
UK small cap funds have bucked the trend and remained a popular choice for investors in 2017 as the wider market for UK-focused funds struggled, according to Hargreaves Lansdown data.
Investors will be forced to think more carefully about asset allocation in 2018 as divergence in central banks’ monetary policies takes centre stage, according to fund groups.
The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 0.25% in its third hike of 2017, while the Bank of England has stood firm and held UK rates at 0.5%.
A bear market in 2018 seems unlikely after a year marked out by a ‘Goldilocks’ environment, according to Kames’ global equity manager, Neil Goddin.
Investors are missing out on good, profitable businesses by becoming swept up in the growth stock hysteria, AJ Bell’s Ryan Hughes has warned.
