Giovanni Becchere
Head of Multi-Assets, ABN AMRO Investment Solutions. Based in: Paris, France
“We are approaching the end of the lockdown phase and can hope that the worst is behind us, as infection rates stabilise. After China, some European countries already started or announced plans to lift lockdown progressively. As investors, we are heartened by the extraordinary monetary and fiscal stimulus that has been injected into economies around the world. To be sure, in the coming months economic data will continue to be depressed with ‘black swans’ in macro data. However this is already priced into the equity market to a large extent. Fixed income assets will be impacted by coming defaults, depending on policy support and the duration of lockdown. In this context we maintain the preference for equities versus bonds.”
Luca Dal Mas
Senior fund analyst, Aviva Investors. Based in: London, UK
“The Covid-19 virus continues to dominate news flow and the knock-on impact to the global economy is starting to become apparent. Most data points to a sharp decline in economic growth that we have not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Financial markets remain exceptionally volatile, however, in recent weeks we have witnessed a significant recovery. This has mainly been driven by better news regarding the progress of the disease and optimism regarding the possibility of a quick exit from the lockdowns. While additional policy measures are being enacted globally, we remain cautious and have therefore further trimmed risk exposure and switched the proceeds in our market neutral managers.”
Kelly Prior
Investment Manager in the Multi-manager team, BMO Global Asset Management. Based in: London, UK
“April saw a rebound in markets from the recent lows, as sentiment turned more hopeful over the future path of the Covid-19 virus and some sort of reversion to economic activity. The outsized stimulus measures announced by world authorities, alongside rumblings of progress on the medical front, proved too tempting for the market to ignore after such significant falls, though the leadership was narrow and focused on QAAP (quality at any price). The best performing fund of the selection was the Majedie UK Focus fund benefiting from a tilt to large cap growth. Trailing in performance terms were the absolute return and fixed income holdings. We have sold the Hermes Europe ex-UK fund as the manager has left, splitting proceeds between the other holdings for now. We have also raised cash – this market has come a long way. After such a strong rebound, it is likely that there will be further bouts of volatility as well as leadership change in sectors driving returns.”
Gayathri Devarakonda
Fund Research Analyst, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. Based in: London, UK
“Global markets recovered strongly in April as the focus shifted to lower infections rates and gradual reopening of the economies across the globe. Equities performed strongly with the S&P 500 alone gaining 12.8 per cent in April. Tech stocks did particularly well, with the NASDAQ 100 gaining 15.5 per cent. Fixed income markets also performed strongly following unprecedented levels of bond purchase programmes announced by central banks. Gold continued its strong performance. The portfolio did very well with the help of equities and gold exposure. Our systematic macro exposure also contributed strongly to performance. While the portfolio’s emerging market debt exposure continued to struggle, the investment grade and high yield segments performed well. We made one change, in our alternatives segment.”
Silvia Tenconi
Multimanager Investments & Unit Linked, Eurizon Capital SGR. Based in: Milan, Italy
“In April the performance of the portfolio was positive, with all funds experiencing a meaningful rebound. Best performers were M&G Global Dividend, Wellington US Research and Robeco US Select Opportunities. Much has been done over the last two months, both in terms of monetary and fiscal policy. Some countries are starting to lift the lockdown, to reignite their economies. We reiterate our positive stance on developed equity markets, and add a new fund, MFS European Research, selling out of Exane Equity Select Europe, to have a stronger high-quality bias in the European portion of the portfolio.”
Richard Troue
Fund Manager, Hargreaves Lansdown Fund Managers. Based in: Bristol, UK
“This portfolio was created for a long-term, UK-based investor. Adjustments to asset allocation and fund selection should be infrequent. But changes to fund management teams and shifts in the long-term outlook are triggers to review things. Recent departures from BNY Mellon have made me more cautious on the prospects for their Real Return fund, so I’ve reduced exposure. I’ve taken the opportunity to increase equities modestly, by adding to Findlay Park American and Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders. Both offered relative shelter from the recent stockmarket falls and are managed by teams with exceptional long-term records. Asia also benefits from attractive valuations.”
Bernard Aybran
CIO Multi-management, Invesco. Based in: Paris, France
“The balanced portfolio has been adapted to the current market conditions over the month of April by adding a part of money market fund as a volatility dampener. This has been funded by the redemption of an alternative holding that allocate to commodity on a structural basis. Overall, the funds in portfolio performed in line with expectations as growth went on outperforming value in all regions. In these tough days for investors, the managers’ convictions are put to a test and it’s a perfect moment to make sure the funds you’re invested with stick to their style and purpose or drift instead.”
Paul Hookway,
Senior Fund Analyst, Kleinwort Hambros. Based in: London, UK
“While it was tempting to jump back into equity markets as they recovered from the March lows, we decided there were too many variables to be certain that a second leg down would not occur. It is now apparent that coming out of lockdown is not going to be easy, in fact far from it. This may make the economic impact worse than the market is pricing in, so we held our nerve. We did invest the cash we raised last month. Mostly in UK government bonds, to at least get some return for investors. The gold position was also modestly increased.”
Antti Saari
Chief Investment Strategist, Nordea investments. Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark
“Risky assets rebounded in April, following a volatile March. This was coupled with a heavy decline in the near-term earnings outlook and thus resulted in rising valuations. The market is balancing the extremes of an historically rapid decline in economic activity and unprecedented easing measures. This process can result in large moves both ways as new information tips the balance. Hence, we stick to a neutral allocation between equities and bonds. However, we did increase high yield bonds to overweight in the bond portfolio mid-April, due to the unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve. We do acknowledge the risk from increased defaults but feel like this is well reflected in spreads.”
