Our head of fund research, Jackie Qiao, shares her desert island fund picks with Citywire.
Read in full

The purpose of including alternatives in a portfolio, is for one reason: diversification. But how can we be sure alternatives are doing their job?

Read the full article in FT Adviser
or watch the CISI-endorsed CPD webinar

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• UK house price declines coincided with recession data
• Mortgage market is easing with prospect of falling interest rates
• House prices have report first uptick since July 2023

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Central Banks' policy rates are expected to pivot towards cuts in 2024 with a material impact on asset class perspectives.
Read the full article in FT Adviser

Wealth managers discuss the ongoing issues with property funds and explain how investors should get their exposure to the asset class going forward.
Read the full article in Trustnet.

[3 min read - open as pdf]

• Servicing a mortgage is becoming increasingly painful
• Property market transactions are down sharply
• How does this compare to the financial crisis of 2008/9?

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• Property is a traditional Alternative Asset diversifier
• Performance has suffered on slowing growth and rising rates
• Consideration of geography, fund format and liquidity is key

[3 min read - open as pdf]

• Infrastructure roll-out and renewal underpins modern economies
• Income streams are inflation-protected
• Infrastructure has both bond- and equity-like characteristics

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• Our Liquid Real Assets Index strategy delivered on its objectives
• Provides access to assets positively correlated with inflation
• For a risk-constrained liquid approach to real asset diversification

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• Private Market Managers’ valuations hit in 2022 on rising rates
• Sustained asset growth to 2030E supports positive outlook
• Highly sensitive to US interest rate expectations 

[5 min read]

• Yield is back
• Selectivity matters more
• Inflation’s getting stickier

2022 proved to be a challenging year with pressure on equities and bonds a like in face of rising rates and soaring inflation.  In our 2023 Outlook: Looking for Light, we explore three key themes
1. Yield is back: for equities, bonds and alternatives - the yield drought is over
2. Selectivity matters more: within and across asset classes
3. Inflation is getting stickier: getting past the peak, but still a problem

Read the summary article

Find out more:

• The full version of our 2023 Outlook report is available to our clients.  For UK advisers requesting further information, please contact us.
• Watch the recent 2023 Outlook webinar discussion with Henry Cobbe, Hoshang Daroga (Elston) and Natasha Sarkaria, CAIA (BlackRock)

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• Good in theory, problematic in practice
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Changing market regime

There is an investment case for investing in private markets, and the asset class has proved popular with institutional investors, including those with long-term time horizons and high liquidity tolerance – such as endowments.  But not every endowment has enjoyed the success of the early adopters under the “Swensen model”.
A private market allocation is structurally hard to reverse if things go wrong with any of 1) the investor’s liquidity needs, 2) the private market fund’s underlying investments, or 3) the realised returns relative to risk-free investments (e.g. gilts) for a given term.
As such, an allocation to private markets should be seen more like an irreversible decision, unlike almost all other investments available to institutional investors which can be sold at a day, week or month’s notice.
In this brief note, we do not set out the case for investing in private markets – that has been set out extensively elsewhere.  We do however raise some points of challenge to those stated advantages.
[Read full paper as pdf]

[3 min read, open as pdf]

• The European coal market has been tight
• Extending or restarting coal-fired plants is quickest fix to supply
• Coal consumption is at record high in 2022

For full article, open as pdf

In this article for IG, Jackie Qiao, Head of Fund Research at Elston Consulting, discusses the value of holding gold in times of market stress.
Read in full

[3 min read, open as pdf]

• Infrastructure spending to stimulate growth
• Beyond the US, this is a global trend
• Accessing the infrastructure beneficiaries

In this Insight we explore the increase in infrastructure spending and ways of accessing this exposure with index-tracking ETFs.

[3 min read]

• Wholesale energy prices remain at record highs
• This is driving broader-based inflation
• Accessing energy exposure can help mitigate the impact

Read full article online (link to external website)

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• UK could soar above 20% at current energy prices
• Triggered by sanctions blowback and policy errors
• Inflation inverts investment risks

With low growth, soaring inflation and spiking interest rates, advisers need to rethink the definition of risk.  Focus on volatility is focus on the “wrong problem”.  Instead, advisers should focus on preserving purchasing power (mitigate inflation risk) to protect client outcomes.  That requires a fundamental rethink around traditional definitions of risk, asset allocation and diversification.

For full article including charts, open as pdf

With inflation at current levels, nominal bonds will remain under pressure. We explore the more resilient alternatives within the bonds universe as well as property, infrastructure, liquid real assets and targeted absolute return funds.
For full article, see Trustnet.

[5 min read, open as pdf]

• How did we get here?
• What is the impact?
• Where do we go from here?

Markets and major economies are in a state of uncertainty in the context of rising inflation, rising interest rates and a risk to economic growth.  How did we get here? What is the impact?  Where do we go from here?
Read full article with charts