Investment Insights

In the final episode of our Investment Insights series, Dawn Li Wan Po is joined my Marco Stroili to look back on what has been a turbulent first quarter for markets. Marco starts by outlining what our key calls for 2022 were at the start of the year when looking towards what we expected to be more self-sustaining markets. However, following the events of Q1 – namely the Russian invasion of Ukraine, central bank rate normalisation, and sustained high inflation – markets got off to a rockier start than first expected. Dawn then takes a deeper look at the actions of the central banks in the face of robust economic activity, strengthening labour markets and, perhaps most importantly, sustained inflation growth. Next, Marco explains the market reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February, which primarily focused on commodity prices and investor sentiment. Finally, Marco provides an overview of the key calls made by Julius Baer’s research teams across Fixed Income and Equities.

As a reminder, this was our final episode in the series as we will be joining our global Beyond Markets podcast from April. If you’d like to continue hearing our insights on what is happening in markets, please do subscribe to Beyond Markets on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast provider.

In the latest episode of the Investment Insights Podcast, Mark Winterburn is joined again by Felicity Selcoe from the UK Advisory team to discuss what is happening in today’s markets. The conversation kicks off with the recent news from the US that the Federal Reserve has lifted the target rate of the federal-funds rate from 0.25% to 0.5% and what this says about the current economic situation. Stagflation - the persistence of high inflation coupled with a stagnant economy and high unemployment - is also touched on by the team as they discuss whether there is a genuine threat of sustained stagflation in years to come following the surge in energy and commodity prices in reaction to the war in Ukraine. On the topic of energy, Mark highlights the shift to clean energy - a theme well-liked by our Research and Next Generation departments - to curb both climate emissions but the dependencies on Russian oil and gas. Finally, Felicity explains what has been causing the high volatility in Chinese equities in recent weeks.

In the latest episode, Mark Winterburn is joined by Thanh Cung from the UK Portfolio Management desk, where they discuss their thoughts on the economic fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They outline the particularly high volatility in commodities over the past week before discussing the mixed reaction in developed market equities and the flows into safe-haven assets. Finally, Mark and Thanh both outline what they've been doing in their advisory and discretionary portfolios respectively in response to the ongoing conflict.

In this episode, Felicity Selcoe from the UK Advisory desk is joined by Portfolio Manager, Aneka Beneby to discuss the tumultuous start to the year for global markets. They discuss persisting inflation, both from a policy standpoint and reaction from global businesses, the geopolitical tensions in Russia and Ukraine and the uncertainty this is causing in commodity markets, and finally our current portfolio positioning.

In our latest Investment Insights podcast Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) is joined by Dawn Li Wan Po (Senior Discretionary Portfolio Manager) to discuss recent market volatility. The two share our thoughts on how to navigate current market turbulence, the current issues between Russia and Ukraine and how these are affecting financial markets and our assessment of how the earnings season has gone so far.

The first episode of our Investment Insights podcast for 2022 begins with a review of the major market moves we have seen so far this year conducted by Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) and Marco Stroili (Senior Investment Adviser). Topics discussed include the current market anxiety around the rising interest rate environment along with our view on its likely effects on equity markets, a discussion on our expectations for the current earnings season and the current backdrop and challenges for China. Mark concludes with a summary of our Market Outlook’s key messages to clients.

Our final Investment Insights podcast for 2021 begins with a review of the trends we have seen this year conducted by Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) and Ed Raymond (Head of Portfolio Management). Topics discussed include the macroeconomic and inflation backdrop, asset class summaries and the themes that have affected both advisory and discretionary portfolios. The conversation also includes our outlook for 2022. Ed discusses how discretionary portfolios are positioned for the year ahead along with the key risks that he anticipates. Mark concludes with a summary of the main messages his team are communicating to clients within advisory portfolios.

In this week’s episode of our Investment Insights podcast, Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) and Thanh Cung (Discretionary Portfolio Manager) discuss our views in relation to the recent US Federal Reserve communication on transitory inflation and what this means for the reduction of bond purchases and interest rate tightening. Next, Thanh moves onto the US labour market and how the last payrolls number may not tell the whole picture on the employment backdrop. Finally, the two look closer at the opportunities that have emerged from the market sell-off (and subsequent recovery) in relation to the omicron covid variant and the Federal Reserve’s recent communications. Mark concludes with some comments on small cap stocks and why the recent volatility in our view presents a buying opportunity in this space.

The latest episode of our Investment Insights podcast begins with a discussion between Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) and Marco Stroili (Senior Investment Adviser) on the market’s reaction to the reappointment of Jerome Powell as Fed Chairman for a second term and linked to this our view on the US inflationary backdrop. The two then move on to the news that Europe is experiencing the highest level of new coronavirus cases since January and the economic impact we predict this to have. Finally, Julius Baer’s Eurozone country equity rating was introduced last week, so Marco provides an explanation as to why we recommend overweighting equity markets in France and Italy.

In our latest episode, Felicity Selcoe, a regular on the podcast, is joined by a newcomer to the team and impact investing specialist, Dr Nicolas Baumgartner. This particular episode was recorded from Glasgow at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, and covers the main headlines from the conference, an overview of what impact investing is, and investment themes related to the conference outcomes and greenwashing.