Asset Allocation – Page 264
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Features
Waiting for a head of steam to build up
Hopes for a recovery in UK equity prices have been dashed more than once this year. But fund managers are still cautiously optimistic that the market could yet push through key barriers to end the year higher than its summer lows. Over recent months, the market just about managed to ...
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Features
US economy could surprise
It is not without irony that the US could well turn out be the strongest of the major industrial economies over the next twelve months. This would be in marked contrast to the start of the year when the question more being posed was whether Europe could survive the US ...
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Features
Elusive signs of recovery
There’s still no end in sight to the slowdown in the Euro-zone equity markets. This is the opinion of Marc Breutsch, head of economic research for Swiss Life Asset Management in London and Zürich, who says persistent negative macroeconomic data is not stimulating growth despite some areas of the market ...
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Features
Group risks in the e-world
The management of group risk benefits is in the process of elevation from an art to a science. No longer is employee benefit provision and the risks involved the sole preserve of HR. “It’s no longer a case of HR simply buying insurance products,” says Tony Salter of consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers’ ...
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Features
In search of super glue
At this month’s conference hosted by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) in Cairns, Queensland, delegates will have a chance to assess how far Australia has progressed in its bid to develop a greater global outlook. In recent years, the country has attempted to become the hub for ...
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Features
Using insurance to wrap stakeholder pensions
The recently launched stakeholder pensions in the UK look set to have a significant impact on the balance of power between asset managers and insurance companies. While the asset managers won substantial business with the growth of the defined contribution (DC) market, the different requirements demanded by stakeholder pensions are ...
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Features
0 dawn or not?
Global financial markets are at a critical juncture. After having partially recovered from the sharp decline in the first quarter of this year, stock markets are showing renewed signs of weakness. Whether the second quarter rebound was a false dawn or only the first leg of a more fundamental and ...
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Features
Euro assets under cloud
Inflationary pressures, stagnant interest rates and an ever weakening euro are keeping investors out of Europe, leading to a lack of consumer confidence and keeping the markets across Euroland on an ever downward spiral. “Inflation in particular is becoming more of a serious issue,” says Harald Sporleder, a European fund ...
