Why this wealth manager expects AR funds to beat the macro blues

WEALTH MANAGERS

Ruth Gillbe speaks to Mark Insley of Ascot Wealth Management about rising demand for absolute return funds amid growing fears over QE tapering in the US.

Over the past couple of months you have moved from a 0% position in absolute return funds to 13% across clients’ portfolios, with plans to increase this to 30% over the next 18 months. Why are you favouring this sector? We have seen significant events in global markets recently and, in light of the new outlook, our investment thesis has changed. Following the recent Federal Reserve tapering announcements, both US equities and US bonds fell dramatically. It is clear the performance of equity markets is heavily dependent on the quantitative easing  programme, and the notion of its wi...