Strategic bond funds’ role in portfolios has come into question among advisers in recent years as a result of the poor performance of many of the higher-profile fund managers in the sector, particularly in 2022, when the bond market sell-off was broad and deep. Strategic bond fund managers are a class of fixed income investors
Given the relative failure of bonds to dampen volatility and move inversely with equities since the start of the pandemic, many allocators may have pondered the point of owning bonds at all. That may have been particularly true in 2024, as equity markets rose stoutly, while in 2021, when equity markets fell, so did bonds.
It has been a rocky road for fixed income investors recently, with rising inflation in 2022 leading to a swift sell-off for the asset class. The persistence of inflation in most developed countries has prevented the sort of rapid progress in bond prices many may have hoped for as rates were cut. We now enter
The bond market is facing uncertainty as investors weigh slowing economic growth, inflationary pressures, and central bank policies. The Bank of England has halved its UK GDP forecast for 2025 to 0.75 per cent, reflecting broader concerns about economic weakness, while monthly GDP fell by 0.1 per cent in January, following 0.4 per cent growth
Over the course of four days in November 2024 the High Court heard the application brought by Diane Culligan, a significant figure in women’s football, against her ex-husband Anthony Culligan to determine how their substantial financial assets should be divided between them following their divorce. The parties married in February 1992 and were together for
The UK fixed income market is experiencing volatility amid economic and fiscal challenges. Gilt yields remain elevated due to lingering inflation, currently at 2.5 per cent, and weak GDP growth – 0.1 per cent in November 2024. A cautious Bank of England has also pared back on the number of rate reductions it plans to