Investment Funds

Chetan Modi, fund analyst at Morningstar: Manager Carl Stick plies a strategy that we think is fundamentally sound and has led to this fund’s continued success. He looks over the long term for companies that offer healthy yields and can grow their dividends by at least the rate of inflation each year.

Leading fund manager, Standard Life Investments this week celebrates the 10th anniversary of its £128m European Equity Growth Fund which has produced top decile performance over three years and top quartile performance over two and seven years and since launch.

New Star's Mark Harris gives his outlook for gold: Global demand for gold reached new heights in the second quarter of 2008, rising 9% year-on-year to $21.2 billion according to figures from the World Gold Council.

Tom Whitelaw, Analyst at Morningstar: Despite Fidelity Global Special Situations' poor recent performance, we believe it holds promise for the right investor.

The price of gold has risen by 8% since the start of the credit crunch. In contrast, stock prices have declined with the FTSE 100 falling by 28% over the same period, according to new findings from Clerical Medical.

Investors Capital Trust plc (ICT), which is managed by Rodger McNair from F&C's Edinburgh office, has this morning released its interim results via the London Stock Exchange.

F&C has topped the FairPensions UK Asset Manager Responsible Investment Ranking survey for the second year running.

Jupiter Asset Management, one of the UK's leading fund management groups, has activated the Sterling class for the Jupiter Merlin International Equities Portfolio, making it more accessible to UK investors, although it is not yet registered for retail distribution in the UK.

Heathcare was the best performing sector in the UK market in the last recession, according to analysis by Fidelity International.

Following consultation with members, the IMA and PCRC have created a new Property sector. The sector will encompass all types of UK authorised funds investing in property, including direct property funds and property securities funds.

The 16th of November will be a special day for Standard Life Investments as the global fund manager celebrates the tenth anniversary of its first day of trading back in 1998.

Barclays Wealth is launching a new range of protected investments and continuing its Emerging Markets Optimiser as the structured product sector continues to witness a ‘flight to quality'.

Chetan Modi, fund analyst at Morningstar, writes: We believe the Newton American fund benefits from the backing of Newton's strong career analyst bench.

Legal & General and Investec have joined forces to create a new cautious managed fund, The Legal & General Money Builder (Investec) Fund.

Leading fund manager, Standard Life Investments today announced that its UK Equity High Income Fund has been awarded a ‘AAA' fund management rating by ratings agency, Standard & Poor's.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has upgraded BlackRock's UK Income Fund to AA, referring to manager Nick McLeod-Clarke's disciplined approach and strong stock selection abilities.

Architas Multi-Manager ("Architas"), the new investment company backed by AXA UK, has agreed an exclusive distribution partnership for the first two funds launched by INSYNERGY Investment Management ("INSYNERGY"), the INSYNERGY Odey Fund and INSYNERGY UK Shariah Growth Fund.

With the abandonment of cash dividends by almost all UK listed banks and FTSE All-Share dividend likely to fall by at least 10% as a whole in 2009, Michael Clark, manager of the Fidelity Income Plus fund, discusses where income investors can now find yield.

Richard Pease, manager of the New Star European Growth Fund: The decoupling argument - that other countries were no longer reliant on the US economy for economic growth - always had a hollow ring to it.

Despite expert predictions that the average price of a home will tumble by as much as £40,000 by the end of next year, almost five million people in the UK still think that their home is the only investment they will ever need, according to research from long-term investment provider, Skandia.

Garrett Fish, manager of the JPMorgan American Investment Trust, says there is a good case in favour of investing in US equities:

Chetan Modi, fund analyst at Morningstar, comments: This Investec fund, launched in September 2002, benefits from a very experienced management team. It is run by Thornburg Investment Management in the USA and is a near-clone of their Thornburg Value fund.

Architas Multi-Manager, the new investment company backed by AXA UK, announces details of an exclusive distribution partnership with INSYNERGY Investment Management ("INSYNERGY"), a new boutique fund management business launched by Spike Hughes, one of the leading figures in the investment industry.

Cormac Weldon, Head of US Equities at Threadneedle comments on opportunities in the US depending on the outcome of the election.

Morningstar, a leading provider of independent investment research and data, has issued fund analysis on the Artemis European Growth fund.