Apart from that, very little has changed – although US and UK equities have ground higher, more managers are setting their portfolios up for some form of correction when trading volumes increase and everyone eventually gets back from holiday.
The lack of major market news meant FE Trustnet ran more research-based articles than usual this week.
Here are five of our favourites. Have a great Bank Holiday.
More than 75% of global funds underperform over three and five years
First up is a study looking at the performance of funds in the global sectors, the diversification properties of which have made them popular among UK investors.
Despite their popularity, however, more than 80 per cent of funds in the IMA Global sector have failed to beat the MSCI World index over the past three years, while 75 per cent have underperformed against the FTSE World index.
Source: FE Analytics
The research also showed it is a similar story over five years.
And Theo, we’ve taken heed of your complaint and in future will make sure we include more tables to illustrate data.
I’m so bearish I’ve sold my house, says Cantor’s Tan
Charles Tan has warned FE Trustnet on a number of previous occasions that investors should de-risk their portfolios.
He has now gone a step further, with fears of an economic downturn causing him to sell his central London home and move all of his money back to Singapore.
Tan says the already overheating Chinese market is likely to have a devastating knock-on effect on the UK economy if its bubble bursts.
A quite depressing read, but interesting stuff nonetheless.
Luthman: Why I’m expecting a bull market if Cameron gets a majority
In another article that was published over the weekend, FE Alpha Manager Jan Luthman told us why he thinks a Conservative party majority in next year’s general election will give the green light to a wave of acquisitions in the UK.
Luthman, who runs the Liontrust Macro Equity Income fund, says it would lead to a bull run in equity markets.
“It’s difficult to see acquisitions and markets shooting ahead if there’s a deadlock, but if we do see a majority for Cameron of more than 50, you could see big moves – particularly at the large cap end,” he said.
It shouldn't be too surprising then that the story generated a hotly contested political debate.
Return of the bears: Tulloch, Stout, Wood & co back to winning ways in 2014
In this article, FE Trustnet highlighted that leading fund managers who keep a keen eye on downside protection have been the best performers in this year’s flat market.
The likes of Sebastian Lyon’s Trojan fund, Angus Tulloch’s First State Asia Pacific Leaders fund and Bruce Stout’s Aberdeen World Equity fund had been struggling in last year’s bull market and all underperformed.
However, they have all delivered top -quartile returns so far in 2014.
The most disappointing fund launches of recent years
In this article, following on from Neil Woodford’s successful fund launch, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Mark Dampier, Investec’s Max King and Spear Financial’s Chris Spear told FE Trustnet about the funds they bought at the first opportunity – then wished they hadn’t.
Among those mentioned in the article are Jupiter Absolute Return, Schroder UK Absolute Target and the Better Capital 2009 Investment Trust.
