Invesco Perpetual has added a new product director to its multi-asset team as it suffered a “challenging” second quarter.
Clive Emery has joined the team and will work alongside product managers Georgina Taylor and Danielle Singer. Mr Emery joins from Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Bank, where he was a managing director.
In a web call on Wednesday, Invesco Perpetual noted its £2.4bn Global Targeted Return fund, run by David Millar, Dave Jubb and Richard Batty had lost 1.7 per cent in the second quarter.
Ms Taylor said some of this loss was because the group had bet on emerging market equities over US equities too early and the trade had lost the fund 54 basis points (bps) in the second quarter.
“We were far too early on the trade [and] we are looking to see if there is a more detailed or specific version we can implement,” Ms Taylor explained.
The multi-asset team has also implemented a new trade that bets on US consumer staples versus discretionary stocks. This is the fund’s “first venture” into this sector since its launch in September 2013.
Discretionary stocks have outperformed consumer staples since 2010, but the team suggested this is due to change as markets enter “the next phase of the economic cycle”.
Looking ahead into next year the multi-asset team said they are keeping an eye on the US dollar, which they are still positive on, but which could be hitting “a tipping point”.
“It’s too early now, but we think our position regarding the dollar versus other asset classes could change as we enter the next phase of the cycle,” Ms Taylor added.
