Risky business

A year ago, a key concern for investors was the level of national debt inherent in many developed economies.

While this problem is far from being solved, markets appear to be slightly happier, mainly as a result of the wave of austerity packages sweeping across some of the more indebted European nations. Perhaps the surest sign of this is the news that PIMCO no longer considers UK gilts to be “resting on a bed of nitro-glycerine” and has even rated CDS on UK government debt as a “valuable opportunity.” But there is a new set of concerns that are now regularly raised by fund managers in presentations and briefings, and they are political and geopolitical in nature.  These risks comes in many sha...