UK equities

The battleground of fund charges is beginning to gather momentum and is set to only accelerate as the industry comes to terms with the market volatility and its effects on investor behaviour.

It may be too soon to talk about the green shoots of economic recovery, but fiscal and monetary stimulus packages have certainly started to have an effect.

Despite equalling the record for the number of successive days of gains on UK and US equity markets, it is worth noting that neither has made much ground since the turn of the year.

Lazard has bolstered its UK equity team with the appointment of Lloyd Whitworth.

Current climate of low interest rates beneficial as all but one of 60 funds in UK Smaller Companies peer group post gains over six months

For an investment manager, rising equity markets are most welcome.

A near 30% rally from the lows of early March to the peak on 1st June has been characterised by a fierce debate between investors over cyclicals versus defensives. We feel this misses the point of the rally entirely.

F&C Asset Management has appointed Jacob de Wit, head of fixed income, and Richard Wilson, head of equities, to the group's executive committee, following the company's demerger last week.

Having spent the past six weeks trading in a tight range of 100 points around 4,400, the UK FTSE 100 has recently fallen back to its end of April levels.