US

Nick Ford, manager of the Miton US Opportunities fund, has selected his top five quality US equities poised to benefit from the strong recovery in the world's largest economy and an improving environment for consumer and business spending.

Legg Mason's chief executive Bill Miller is setting up a mutual fund under his own name, to be run together with his son as assistant fund manager.

All bets are off on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering, and investors should therefore prepare themselves for a taper as early as this week, said M&G's Anthony Doyle.

Saxo Bank has published a list of ten 'outrageous predictions' which could play out in 2014 and impact global investment markets.

CONTRARIAN INVESTOR

Alexander Friedman, global CIO at UBS Wealth Management, sees Japan as ‘more of a risk' to investors than China in the coming year.

Mainstream emerging markets may have remained thoroughly out of favour this year, with developed nations driving global equity returns, but surprises can still be found in the top ten markets of 2013.

US politicians have agreed a deal to set spending levels until 2015, on the same day that the 'Volcker rule' curbing bank trading was finally passed by regulators.

Fund buyers are selling their US passive holdings and buying into high conviction stockpickers as correlations in the market subside from historic highs.

The US unemployment rate has fallen to a five-year low, increasing the likelihood of a tapering of quantitative easing later this month.