Equities

S&P has downgraded Greece's credit rating by two notches on default fears, while Moody's and Fitch are also preparing to cut its further, according to reports.

Polar Capital's financials manager John Yakas is shunning the troubled Southern European banking sector in favour of ‘more transparent' emerging European banks.

Felix Wintle, the manager of the £673m Neptune US Opportunities fund, has blamed a tough first quarter this year for his fund's lacklustre performance over the last 12 months.

Julius Baer's Andy Kastner is rotating his absolute return portfolio into defensive sectors including utilities and pharmaceuticals amid ongoing turmoil in European stock markets.

The European Central Bank is likely to hike interest rates just 25bp to 1.5% by the end of the year, as core inflation remains steady and has barely increased, said Alan Brown at Schroders.

Leading fund managers including RWC income duo Ian Lance and Nick Purves have removed US dollar hedges on their portfolios in the view the currency has bottomed, leaving them at odds with currency specialists who predict further falls.

With stronger than expected inflation readings in the eurozone, China and the US this month and the UK continuing to dramatically overshoot its inflation target, investors should be looking to protect their portfolios from the consequences of continued...

Cazenove's Tim Russell is stepping down from his position as head of pan-European equities.

EMERGING MARKETS

The eurozone was a crowning achievement for many Brussels europhiles, of which they no doubt felt intense pride. As history shows again and again, it came before a fall.