LGIM's Onuekwusi: Why risk is off the table

Trade war jitters behind manager's decision

Legal & General Investment Management's (LGIM) Justin Onuekwusi has been taking risk off across the Multi-Index range of funds, citing the uncertainty created by the US-China trade war, with the probability of the team’s base case "the lowest it has ever been".

Onuekwusi previously told Investment Week in April he had become more bullish on risk assets. But the multi-asset manager said since then, things had changed: "The trade spat between China and the US means the extremes of both the upside and downside have just become a lot greater. "Our base case is the lowest it has ever been in terms of probability since the inception of the Multi-Index funds in 2013. Therefore, we felt having a positive risk position no longer made sense. So more recently, we have moved away from buying on dips, to selling on strengths." Fund managers slash expo...