Woolnough highlights threats to markets in 2012

M&G's bond fund star Richard Woolnough said the impact of eurozone failure and the potential introduction of trade barriers by major economies are the two greatest threats to markets in 2012.

Woolnough said, in the short term, the legal implications of the collapse of the euro remains the key risk to investors. “What really concerns me is how the euro fails,” he said. The collapse of the euro –and the exit of member states such as Greece – has been at the forefront of investors’ minds since yields on the debt of peripheral economies began to spike last year. However, Woolnough suggested it may be better for the euro to fail in the longer term, predicting order would return after the initial upheaval. “The single currency is a very difficult and impractical idea. If it...