Investment Funds

Threadneedle has increased its estimates for UK inflation and interest rates, pointing to difficult times for the domestic economy.

Jonathan Waghorn and Mark Lacey, portfolio managers and energy specialists at Investec Asset Management, comment on the outlook for oil prices following recent record highs.

New survey research published today suggests that despite an upsurge in ethical and green investment in recent years, the public has an appetite for 'responsible' investment that is still far from being saturated.

Despite oil prices rising above $135 a barrel for the first time this morning, Jeremy Tigue, manager of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, believes the impact that these high prices have had on the economy has so far been limited.

While banks and financial institutions may well have turned a corner post the bursting of the credit bubble, the global economy and companies exposed to it have yet to feel its full effect.

Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, co managers of the Gartmore European Selected Opportunities Fund and the Gartmore SICAV Continental European Fund, target Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) as a good investment candidate.

Now may be the time for investors to boost their exposure to UK small cap stocks, says Resolution Asset Management's David Clark.

As the international community continues focusing on China's emergency response to this week's devastating earthquake, analysts try to evaluate the potential economic impact of the catastrophe.

Current market conditions provide attractive opportunities in European stocks that can withstand the global headwinds, according to Peter Jarvis, manager of the Foreign & Colonial Eurotrust.

Following yesterday's quarterly inflation report by the Bank of England, Ted Scott, manager of the F&C UK Growth & Income Fund is not surprised by the UK central bank's forecast inflation figure of 3.7% for this year.

Links to F&C's Lifestyle fund range have been established on all of Standard Life's products. These include Standard Life's Onshore and Offshore Investment Bonds, individual and group pension plans and its Fundzone platform.

Karl Bergqwist and Simon Surtees, Gartmore's co-heads of fixed income and managers of the Gartmore Corporate Bond Fund and Gartmore High Yield Corporate Bond Fund believe the worst may be over for the financials sector and have been adding to their positions in the bonds of a number of banks and other financial institutions.

Resolution Asset Management's head of Asia Pacific Andrea McNee believes shifting towards a value style would be a mistake in current market conditions.

Having been a little over $20 at the outbreak of the second Gulf War in 2003 and just over $50 at the start of 2007, the price of a barrel of oil broke through $100 at the end of February and has carried on rising since.

The Galaxy Portfolio which comprises over 1 million sq ft of assets across the main user sectors has been sold by Legal & General Property to Canada Life.

Despite significant improvements among a number of leading Japanese companies, the system of governance in most listed companies in Japan is failing to meet the needs of shareholders, according to a White Paper on corporate governance practices in Japan published by the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA).

Leigh Harrison, Head of UK Equities and manager of the Threadneedle UK Equity Alpha Income Fund, explains: "We've come a long way in a short space of time, but that move has been fuelled largely by relief that the authorities have managed to prevent complete meltdown in the financial system.

New research from Halifax Financial Services, analysing stock price indices across the 27 members of the European Union over the last five years, shows that stock prices across the EU have increased by an average of 118% since 2003.

An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit Sichuan province in southwest China yesterday (May 12th). The origin of the earthquake was in Wenchuan county, about 100 km to the northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Simon Ward, chief economist at New Star, comments on today's inflation data: Today's inflation figures are shocking but should not have come as a complete surprise given recent warning signals.

Stock markets are excessively gloomy and fixated on the macroeconomic threat of contagion from a weak US economy, according to Ian Ormiston, European investment director at Resolution Asset Management.

Investec Asset Management is pleased to announce the launch of its offshore Middle East and North Africa Fund.

Stock market volatility has prompted a dramatic switch among investors in their attitude to risk, new research among IFAs by Prudential shows.

Standard Life Investments, one of the largest property fund managers in Europe, has announced that it has made its third direct investment in the Asia Pacific property market with the acquisition of a property in Brisbane, Australia for AU$37.5m.

Subject to FSA and investor approval, the £5.5 million New Star Japan Fund will merge into the £105 million New Star Pacific Growth Unit Trust, which is managed by Ian Beattie.