Multi-asset managers boost cash weightings as global markets falter

Multi-asset managers have been hiking their cash weightings after a rocky start to the year for global equity markets.

According to data from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, investors pulled $34bn from equity funds in the week to 5 February, pouring $12bn into government bonds as they went in search of safe havens. Stewart Cowley (pictured), running the Old Mutual Managed fund, is among those to have reduced his equity allocation at the start of the year, taking cash up to 20% and moving 5% into total return bond funds, as major global markets faltered. “This could be the year when major asset classes – government bonds and equities – deliver negative returns,” he said. “2014 is a transitional year, an...