Feature

Asia ex Japan index underperforms for three years

A so called 'dash for trash' could see investors that are focus on 'quality income' in US markets underperform in the coming months, according to Stephen Thornber, fund manager at Columbia Threadneedle.

Small caps seem to be an immediate turn off to a lot of investors, with fixations on aggregate valuations and volatility meaning the better risk-adjusted returns that can be made within this asset class are often overlooked.

Simon Gergel, manager of the Merchants investment trust, forecasts a much tighter oil market this year and beyond, with a return to higher prices at some point.

China's 'new economy', focused on consumer demand and the service sectors, is accelerating.

The FTSE ET 100 returned 5% versus the MSCI All Countries World index, which advanced 3.3%, in 2015 rounding off what was a successful year for environment markets.

If the recent sell-off can be attributed to any single factor, it has been events in China - and particularly its currency.

When Abenomics was launched and large-scale QE introduced to much fanfare a few years ago, the bold message communicated was we could expect monetary policy easing on a scale not previously seen.

UK indices have been caught in the eye of the storm and are down more than 8% since the start of the year at the time of writing.

The resources sector presents a real conundrum for investors, especially those orientated towards income, says Miton's Eric Moore.