Equity markets

As equity markets trade near record highs and valuations exceed historical averages, the investing environment appears to us ripe for new sources of returns. In this environment, long/short equity strategies may be well positioned to pick winners and...

Grant Bughman, senior equity strategist at UBS Global Asset Management, says investors in the US have begun looking for bad news in hopes that it will postpone the first rate hike

The combination of political risk and market volatility highlight how important effective stock picking and flexible investing will be for income managers, says Mark Wharrier, manager of the BlackRock UK Income fund

Fears of a squeeze on FTSE 100 dividend payouts has prompted UK equity income managers to change tack and look lower down the cap scale for opportunities.

Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) has changed the dealing frequency on its $3bn Global Equity Absolute Return (GEAR) fund, extending its capacity beyond a previously suggested limit.

Choosing stocks with reliable growth and yield and not too much risk is becoming harder for managers, explains Ciaran Mallon, fund manager at Invesco Perpetual

Fund buyers are steering clear of higher-yielding equity income funds on fears managers are taking too much risk in their quest to deliver payouts.

Navigating 'known unknowns'

Despite the relentless rise of US equity markets since the financial crisis, the country's most famous investor, Warren Buffett, has stuck to his decades-long discipline of holding a large cash pile for a rainy day.

Retail fund sales tumbled last month in a reversal of the strong inflows seen in 2014, according to the latest Investment Association (IA) figures.