Knowledge and insight

With COVID cases starting to roll over – in the UK at least – and investors settling down for some old-fashioned Fed watching, everyone is hoping 2022 will be a bit more like pre-pandemic times.

Another COVID-blighted year has passed. Yet, for all the turmoil, 2021 was a great one for markets.

The final quarter of 2021 proved to be an eventful one for the global economy, with surging inflation and ongoing concerns about supply shortages. Yet markets performed relatively well over the period despite the new Omicron strain adding to the uncertainty. As we look ahead to 2022, economic indicators suggest the post-COVID recovery should continue, and so too should earnings growth.

At a ceremony on 25 November 2021, we were delighted to win ESG Champion of the Year and ESG Champion – Governance; and runner-up (Highly Commended) in ESG Champion – Protecting the Planet.

Déjà vu in the UK. With COVID cases mounting once again and restrictions piling up, everyone is wondering whether Christmas will be cancelled once again.

COVID and inflation are two unwelcome guests who have returned to Western economies and markets, so what does this mean for multi-asset portfolios? Will McIntosh-Whyte is on panel to discuss:  How multi-asset managers are looking to counter the effects of inflation on investor returns. The challenge sustainability regulation is creating for multi-asset funds. The growing influence of China on global financial markets.

Market sentiment has been swinging wildly lately, but in this week’s review chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth explains why he thinks the supply of festive spirits won’t run dry.

A worrying new strain of COVID-19 has upended confidence in economic recovery, the path of interest rates and potentially the arrival of Father Christmas.

It’s shaping up to be another winter tarnished by the virus. As if central bankers needed more complexity on top of huge government spending, upended supply chains and confused labour markets.