Fitch to fund managers: Time to go macro not micro

Fitch Ratings has said current market conditions should make equity managers adapt their stockpicking processes to take into account more top-down views.

The ratings agency's fund and asset management rating group has said the presence of five factors - low growth prospects, the sovereign debt crisis, globalisation, disruptive innovation and mass trading - demands a reinvention of many investment processes. These include Growth at Reasonable Price (GARP) strategies as well as value plays that are threatened by the increased incidence of value traps. Given the fact macro continues to dominate micro, stockpickers cannot escape developing thematic, sector and country views, Fitch said. Macro overlays and hedging strategies are also "ga...