Hedging against market volatility

With confidence in stock markets falling, investors have to be much more aware of risk, and with a favourable risk/return profile, hedge funds have grown in popularity with sophisticated investors

The British infatuation with equities is over. Its demise has been caused by three main factors: a market that has fallen by 37% from its peak and knocked the confidence of even the most optimistic of investors, record levels of equity volatility and historically low levels of inflation. Clients, especially those nearing or in retirement, have been bruised by the fall in the value of their investment portfolio, which has been far more exposed to equities than the portfolios of clients on the Continent. It is unrealistic to think that older clients will make up all the money they ha...