England also managed to lose their two opening games in the World Cup, but the less said about that the better…
Here we pick out five of our favourite articles over the past seven days.
Can Neil Woodford do it again?
Starting with the man of the moment, Neil Woodford’s CF Woodford Equity Income fund started trading on Thursday.
In this article, we asked whether or not he would be able to replicate his stellar track record as manager of the Invesco Perpetual High Income fund at his new venture.
Performance of fund vs index between Feb 1988 and Mar 2014
Source: FE Analytics
We compared how the current environment differs to the market Woodford (pictured) faced when he first launched his Invesco Perpetual fund in 1988. The comments at the bottom suggest opinion is split. One thing that is guaranteed, however, is that his performance will be closely scrutinised over the coming year – especially compared with Mark Barnett.
Speaking of which…
Mass outflows have helped Invesco Perpetual income funds, says Barnett
The FE Alpha Manager explained to FE Trustnet on Thursday that the outflows he has had, because of Woodford launching his new fund, has actually helped him manage his new portfolio.
He said the significant redemptions from his Invesco Perpetual High Income fund were allowing him to make his own mark on the fund. Our data shows that £1.3bn has come out of the now £13bn fund over the past three months.
“What is useful is that the redemptions can be used to reshape the portfolio. I have used them to re-emphasise the ones I rated higher and de-emphasised the ones I wanted to reduce,” Barnett said.
The flagship funds that have made the most money since launch
We had a few studies this week, but this was our favourite.
In this article, using data from FE Analytics, we looked at which high-profile funds have made the highest annualised return over at least a 20 year period.
FE Alpha Manager Jenny Jones’ Schroder US Smaller Companies [launched in 1992], FE Alpha Manager Alex Wright’s Fidelity Special Situations [launched in 1969] and FE Alpha Manager Tom Dobell’s M&G Recovery [also launched in 1969] all feature high up on the list.
The funds Rob Morgan holds in his ISA
In the second article in the series, Charles Stanley Direct’s Rob Morgan (pictured) took the brave decision to disclose his full ISA portfolio. He actually only holds six funds in his ISA and admits that it is set-up cautiously as he doesn’t know when he may need access to his savings. His largest holdings include Artemis Strategic Assets and Trojan Income.
What do you make of his choices?
Which funds are most exposed to the Iraq crisis?
Unfortunately, recent events suggest that another international crisis is brewing in the Middle East.
Thousands of militants from the Islamist ISIS group are currently rampaging across Iraq after successfully capturing the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, increasingly engaged in fighting with the Iraqi Army and other militia groups.
The effect on markets has already been felt with a spike in oil and a rise in the gold price.
Performance of indices over 1 month
Source: FE Analytics
We ask the experts which sectors, asset classes and funds are at risk.
