Contrary to expectations, the best performing sector for the year to date is not technology, but financials. The short-term catalyst has been a surge for the banking sector in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, as investors anticipate deregulation and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. However, the roots of financial sector strength go […]
The long campaign on cost disclosure The past month has brought a flurry of activity over the cost disclosure rules under MiFID and their impact on investment trusts. Bill MacLeod, managing director at Gravis, and one of the key players in the team that has lobbied for the proper treatment of investment trust costs, is, […]
A lot has been made of the concentration in the US market, but the concentration of European markets has been less widely discussed. Just as the S&P 500 has been focused on a handful of large cap companies linked to a narrow theme, the MSCI Europe also has a significant weighting to Novo Nordisk and […]
QD view – four idiosyncratic investment options that provide a differentiated and diversifying addition to a portfolio Part of the joy of investment trusts is that they allow fund managers more room to explore. It doesn’t matter too much if a strategy is highly cyclical, goes through periods of unpopularity, or is illiquid, because managers […]
The healthcare and biotechnology sector has some natural tailwinds: ageing populations, rising emerging market wealth, innovation and rising healthcare utilisation. However, while pharmaceutical companies have been stable, biotechnology has been hit by poor sentiment and rising interest rates. Nevertheless, there are signs of recovery. The sector is diverse. Funds such as Polar Capital Global Healthcare […]
QD view: The overlap between the portfolios of Baillie Gifford’s range of global investment trusts is limited, yet investors are treating them as quite narrow variations on a theme and this is throwing up opportunities for those able to appreciate the nuances within the range. It has undoubtedly been a difficult period for the Baillie […]
It is not a bad rule of thumb to invest in a similar way to people who already have a lot of money. Therefore, the logic of investing alongside in one of the investment trusts where a wealthy family has a large shareholding seems inescapable. But investors need to ensure their interests are looked after […]
Forget the Magnificent Seven, the Indian stock market has been the unsung hero of the past decade. The MSCI India has delivered an annualised return of 13.6%[1], that puts it ahead of the MSCI World (9.97%) and its emerging market peers (3.33%). The returns from the country’s small-and mid-cap sector have been even higher. With […]
The story of the UK equity market over the last decade has few uplifting moments. It has lost 25% of its companies[1], retail investors have pulled out more than £50bn, it has fallen off the radar of many international investors and even domestic companies are seeking to list elsewhere. It has also been a terrible […]
The Chinese year of the Dragon begins tomorrow, 10 February 2024. Dragons are associated with prosperity and abundance. This has been conspicuously absent from 2023’s year of the Rabbit, which has delivered a combination of volatile geopolitics, domestic economic weakness and unwelcome regulation. Chinese markets are now the ultimate contrarian investment option. Can they revive […]
