Europe

Artemis' William Littlewood has moved to a short position in gilts in his £971m Strategic Assets fund, warning the UK's debt position is almost as bad as Portugal's.

ON EUROPE

Henderson manager to overhaul European Growth trust upon takeover from Peak in July

Arguments for the beleagured Europe ex UK sector are getting stronger, but growth figures flatter the region warn managers

European markets opened lower on news of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest on sexual assault charges, amid fears his absence from eurozone talks will delay bailout plans for Portugal and Greece.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Complicating investment gets in the way of what really works - simple things like dividends, keeping costs down and buying well-diversified markets simply and cheaply.

Markets across Europe fell at the start of trading as an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit Spain and commodities were heavily sold off in the US.

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.

Asset managers may have to undertake a "root and branch" reassessment of business models amid a wave of European regulation set to trigger "huge upheaval", warns State Street.