Business as usual? The top funds one year on from the 'taper tantrum'

A year ago this week, then-Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke made a speech many expected to provoke a paradigm shift in markets.

Bernanke's 22 May 2013 speech suggesting the US was nearly ready to taper bond purchases caused a "taper tantrum", with equities selling off widely and bond yields spiking. The announcement, while acknowledged as representing the start of a lengthy period in which stimulus would slowly be reduced, was nonetheless seen as an inflection point by many. At the time, for example, PIMCO's now-CEO Doug Hodge noted the comments had "dramatically boosted interest rates, increased equity price volatility and influenced investors' risk and asset preferences." However, a list of the UK's best-...