Investors seek safe havensamid volatility

Although forced selling of stocks by insurance companies means there are real bargains to be had, overall returns are likely to be subdued over the medium term

  Against the uncertain geopolitical backdrop, economic and corporate news has often been better than expected. However, this was largely ignored by investors, who sought safety in traditional safe havens such as government bonds and gold.   The FTSE All-Share has underperformed global markets mainly because life insurance companies in the UK invest a significantly higher proportion of their assets in equities compared to their US (and, to a lesser extent, European) counterparts. This led, declining equity markets to erode their capital more severely. Some were forced to reduce the...