Feature

It is shaping up to be an eventful year for investors with January alone presenting two unforeseen events – an escalation in US-Iran tensions and fears about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Asian equity markets have underperformed developed markets since around the taper tantrum in 2013, driven partly by monetary policy and tax cuts in the US and partly by investors’ caution on Asia.

Last year's contraction of manufacturing and industrial output was the third of the current economic cycle, influenced by dollar strength, the trade war, and the impact of strikes at General Motors and the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.

While valuations in emerging bond markets may look fairer after solid performance in 2019, we believe various factors remain supportive to the outlook.

Regardless of your home country, there are only a handful of words across the globe that can elicit a visceral response when spoken among polite company.

Sentiment towards the UK has improved following December's General Election result, but we believe equity income investors need to tread carefully in 2020.

The UK economy ended 2019 in stagnation, under pressure from political uncertainty and a global economic slowdown.

After the strong end to 2019 where the 'Boris bounce' led the FTSE All-Share up roughly 6% in December alone, the start of 2020 has found markets in a more cautious mood.

Despite investor expectations to the contrary, 2019 proved to be a remarkable year for equity investors, with MSCI World's 28% annual return being the second highest in 30 years.

'Smart Water' is a trend that is taking hold in the water industry, and momentum is building.