Is it time to put risk back on the table?

EQUITIES

James Lowen, manager of the JOHCM UK Equity Income fund, explains why now is the right time to buy equities.

We have been more optimistic than many on the UK and global economy in the last couple of years, but we recognise the macroeconomic picture deteriorated over the summer. Nevertheless, as tough a proposition as it is, the time to buy equities is often when risk abounds – this is when the longer-term rewards can be at their highest. The flight to safety towards government debt and corporate bonds over the late summer – the latter priced for perfection, the former remarkable given the debt burden of the US and UK – amid a collapse in investor risk appetite had brought UK stock market valuat...