Aviva Investors' Fitzgerald makes tactical bet on the Nasdaq following 'extreme' sell-off

5% of the AIMS fund

In a bear market for equities investors have to be more tactical than they might normally be when markets are simply trending upwards, said Peter Fitzgerald, manager of the £3.1bn Aviva Investors Multi-Strategy (AIMS) Target Return fund.

This is why in June, the manager invested 5% of the fund into the tech-heavy Nasdaq - a move that goes against the bearish market sentiment for growth stocks since the start of the year.  Fitzgerald, who is also the firm's CIO for multi-asset and macro, told Investment Week that the "extreme oversold nature" of US equity markets and a potential growth rally this year pushed him and co-manager Ian Pizer to tactically allocate capital to the index. "By halfway through June, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down about 11% for the month over a two-week period," he said.  "If you just l...