The manager of Newton’s Global Higher Income Fund said that investor risk appetite was at “elevated levels” but, while asset prices were high, he believed that global growth was slowing and continued efforts at quantitative easing were “interfering with the free-market pricing of assets”.
He added: “Despite the buoyant nature of equity markets in the past few months, the underlying problems afflicting the global economy remain.
“We are beginning to see signs of a return to pre-credit crisis behaviour with regards to credit spreads and emerging market debt issuance, while we are also seeing companies raise debt in order to pay dividends. The lessons have clearly not been learnt.
“Authorities around the world are doing their bit to reinvigorate the global economy but the approaches being used are linear in thinking.
“Investor risk appetite is at elevated levels considering that few of the structural growth problems affecting the global economy have dissipated.
“We are yet to emerge from the credit crisis era. As such, we believe that we are likely to see a period of lower returns and volatile markets and shorter economic and business cycles.”
Adviser View
Andrew Reeves, director of Northamptonshire-based The Investment Coach, said: “I would agree with these sentiments. These types of complexities are why we use a discretionary fund manager. The need for a diversified investment portfolio remains, while asset-backed investments remain more prudent than cash.”
