There’s room for both active and passive June 8, 2010 CONFRONTED by the statistics, it could be hard to argue in favour of active management. Very few active fund managers succeed in beating either the benchmark or their peers on a consistent basis. Research by Thames River Capital revealed that only 10 funds of the 1,065 with a three-year track record appeared in the top [...]
Property’s renaissance June 8, 2010 COMMERCIAL property is back in fashion. A recent survey by Aberdeen Asset Management found that UK pension funds are actively looking to increase their commercial property exposure. It found that out of the 166 pension funds it interviewed, two thirds had exposure to property and 36 per cent of those said they would increase their [...]
THE UK LEADS IN THE RACE FOR RECOVERY June 8, 2010 DICK TURPIN MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARTEMIS DEBT is the thing: staggering amounts of it, now taken on by sovereign states. And as a result, there’s a strong bear case for investors. But there’s a bull case too. If you accept that the “debt repayment race” will be won by the least impaired economy, then the UK [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS June 8, 2010 EARN INCOME IN EMERGING MARKETS JP Morgan Asset Management has announced that it intends to launch the first investment trust that will focus on dividend income from emerging markets. Traditionally, emerging market equities are a good play on growth. However, as markets mature, more and more companies are paying good dividends. The fund’s initial target [...]
Mixed fortunes for the buck to help the euro June 8, 2010 ANOTHER week, another lurch lower for the euro. This time it was fears about the finances of Hungary, not even a fully fledged member of the Eurozone, that caused investors to flee the single currency. And the arguments continue to mount about whether the euro ca survive. Just this week the Royal Bank of Canada [...]
Japan wins the forex ugly contest June 8, 2010 IT IS testament to the uncertainty of the times that the yen, the currency of a country with public debt at over 200 per cent of GDP, is still viewed as a “safe haven.” But as CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson says: “Currencies are vying for the title in battle of the uglies” and the yen [...]
DOW-GOLD RATIO COULD HIT PARITY June 8, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST Friday’s surprise commentary from Peter Szijjarto, a spokesman for the new Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, triggered yet another selling frenzy in the euro. He noted that the Hungarian economy was in a “very grave situation” and said that the spectre of a default “isn’t an exaggeration”. Although Hungary [...]
THE TIPSTER June 8, 2010 THE recent recovery in the oil price has seen the Canadian dollar strengthen off its lows against the US dollar due to the loonie’s high sensitivity to Canadian oil exports to the US. A continued rebound in the oil price could well see US dollar-Canadian dollar fall towards trend line support around C$1.0400 and C$1.0330. [...]
Global airline equities are cleared for take-off June 7, 2010 THE global airline industry is set to take off this year, provided the economic recovery holds up, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an association of 230 airlines. IATA has revised its 2010 profit forecast for the industry up to $2.5bn, having formerly predicted a $2.8bn loss. It says that low oil prices, [...]
US JOBS DATA CASTS DOUBT ON RECOVERY June 7, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FRIDAY saw the release of the US non-farm payroll number for May. Following last month’s positive news, with 290,000 jobs added, the consensus this time was for an increase of around 520,000. Optimism grew as we came closer to the release and the “whisper number” crept up, with some estimates at [...]
