‘Steady as she goes’ for the time being across investment markets. I have a lengthy agenda today, so let’s pitch straight in.
On this week’s agenda:
- Increased appetite for equity funds
- The cash dilemma
- The UK looks ripe for mergers and acquisitions
- UK equities still out of favour
- UK property market picking up steam
- Do we want a Sustainable future?
- The AI boom
- Geopolitics
- Summary
Increased appetite for equity funds
It was only a few weeks ago that we were talking about record inflows into money funds (cash). Moving on a month or so, data shows that inflows into equity funds surged in January, to the highest level in three years, whilst investment into money funds slowed significantly. This was reported in Investment Week and was in accordance with Calastone’s Fund Flow Index.
This suggests a polarisation in investor thinking. It may be that when markets dipped halfway through the month, some of the money fund assets were recycled but, nevertheless, it does serve to highlight the dichotomy for investors. The general news flow is awful, yet investment markets are performing well.
The investment markets are forward looking and with a ‘soft landing’ expected for economies, there is most definitely a sense of relief out there. Overall, £2 billion poured into equity funds in January, one of the highest months in the index’s history. UK investors into the markets at were their most bullish since 2021.
Continues…
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