Special Report: Are multi-themed funds the way to play globalisation?

SPECIAL REPORT

After a period of disappointing performance, the long-term case for multi-thematic funds remains intact. Joanna Faith discovers why.

When America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold. This may well be a dusty old cliché but when it comes to assessing how globalisation is having an impact on asset allocation it is a useful adage. As the global economic crisis highlighted, correlations between emerging and developed markets have been steadily rising - having exposure to the former did not leave investors immune from the fallout of the recession in the West. Much of this is down to the globalisation of companies and stock markets. Buying a UK or US fund now is quite different to how it was 30 or 40 years ago. Ab...