Inflation, or the lack of it, especially in Europe, is one of the biggest uncertainties facing the markets in 2018, according to Karen Ward, the new chief market strategist for UK and Europe at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Andrew Harman, senior portfolio manager at First State Investments, believes strength in emerging market equities, rising inflation and low high-yield spreads will influence the firm’s multi-asset portfolio positioning in the year ahead.
After a decade of uber-low interest rates and loose monetary policy, consensus is that central banks around the world will continue to tighten their belts in 2018, so how best to tackle the shift?
Tilney’s Jason Hollands has argued that the UK’s struggling economy is likely to be a short-lived beast.
Rathbones has ranked technology as the second most-likely cause of low inflation in the UK over the next 20 years, just behind Bank of England monetary policy as the first.
Now may be the time to go defensive investors have argued after data revealed UK inflation held steady at 3% in October.
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has launched a Real Capital Builder (RCB) fund in a bid to beat the inflation rise.
UK Inflation hit 2.9% in August, far surpassing the Bank of England’s 2% target, but minus inflationary pressures, investors fear an oncoming deflationary nightmare.
Pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates was handed another blow on Wednesday unemployment fell and UK earnings growth, while beating expectations, failed to outpace inflation.
Despite a murkier outlook for global inflation, there could be “positive surprises” ahead which make inflation-linked bonds an attractive diversifier, Fidelity International says.
Hot on the heels of the US, the UK has reported weaker than expected inflation data and like its opposite number on the other side of the pond, the Bank of England is now faced with a quandary over rate rises.
A heck of a lot can happen in 10 years, but not it seems when it comes to the Bank of England’s base rate.
