Investment Funds

Commenting on recent oil price trends, Angus McPhail, Global Oil and Natural Resources Analyst at Alliance Trust said: "Fundamentals rather than speculation are driving oil prices higher. Oil markets remain tightly controlled by supply and demand.

As independence day approaches on 4th July, Aled Smith, manager of the M&G American Fund finds cause for celebration in the US market by focusing on bottom up stock selection.

Sebastian Radcliffe, Manager of the Jupiter North American Income Fund, comments on current threats and opportunities in the US market.

F&C Investments, a leading investor in emerging markets, is maintaining a selective approach within its global emerging markets (GEM) products following the recent sell-off.

The majority of investors invest in funds to achieve a diversified portfolio (63 per cent), according to research from Barclays Stockbrokers.

Schroders has launched the Schroder ISF Global Emerging Market Equity Commodity Fund. The Fund will invest solely in emerging market commodity stocks and is designed to give investors exposure to some of the worlds fastest growing and most important commodity companies.

Responding to the TUC's sixth annual survey on fund manager voting, Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the Investment Management Association, said: "The TUC survey finds that three quarters of fund managers responding to it make voting data available publicly.

A hard core of investment fund managers still refuse to reveal how they voted at company AGMs and unless this changes soon, the Government must use its reserve power to force fund managers to disclose their voting records in a standard form, says a new TUC report.

With the UK housing market continuing to weaken, unemployment ticking higher and inflation rising above the Bank of England's upper 3.0% limit, Chris Burvill, manager of the Gartmore Cautious Managed Fund, continues to invest defensively, with equities remaining at his fund's lower limit of 40%.

A European income fund of funds, the Elite Integrity European Income Fund designed to fill a key gap in the equity income sector, is due to launch on 7 July 2008 with a high yield remit. The Fund will have a 14 day initial offer period where investors can take advantage of receiving a fixed price of 100p.

Investor faith in one of the UK’s most popular sectors, the Investment Management Association's Cautious Managed sector, has been rewarded with grim returns in the past 12 months, according to fund data analyst Moneyspider.com.

This Independence Day SPA ETF, the pioneering ‘second generation’ Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) provider that uses MarketGrader for its investment methodology, says that US large cap stocks are now set to perform strongly on a relative basis over the coming years.

Kathryn Matthews, Asia CIO for Fidelity International, says an economic slowdown in the US will have an impact on Asian profits, but despite current volatility in the market, GDP growth in the region should remain high, albeit off recent peaks.

Standard & Poor's Funds Rating Service has awarded the M&G Pan European Fund with an ‘AA' and the M&G European Smaller Companies Fund with an ‘A' rating.

With decisive action even the most disappointing ‘dog' funds can be transformed into pedigree performers says fund group F&C Investments.

Guy de Blonay, manager of the New Star Global Financials Fund, comments on the earnings challenges banking stocks are facing and explains why the fund will maintain its bias towards defensive stocks while taking advantage of certain areas of opportunity.

BlackRock has launched the BGF (BlackRock Global Funds) China Fund, to be co-managed by Jing Ning and Alan Wang based in Hong Kong.

Graham Ashby, Head of Retail UK Equities at Credit Suisse, warns investors that UK equity tracker funds are increasingly exposed to the Oil & Gas and Mining sectors and levels of income are under threat.

Fidelity FundsNetworkTM has received a 5 Star award in the Investment category at the FTAdviser Online Service Awards 2008.

Close Investments is delighted to announce the acquisition of their first self storage partnership, adding an additional trade to their Close Trading Companies ("CTC"), an Inheritance Tax efficient portfolio of qualifying trades.

Soaring UK retail sales data for May, released today by the Office of National Statistics, and driven by a 9.2% rise in clothing and footwear purchases and a 3.3% leap in food sales, has caught the City by surprise.

As rising inflation continues to be a major source of concern across Asia, Mike Hanbury-Williams, manager of the F&C Pacific Growth and F&C Asia Pacific Dynamic funds, believes the region remains structurally attractive, with a large number of stocks offering strong inflation hedging potential.

The deteriorating macro-economic backdrop of slowing growth and rising inflation means that those companies which "can offer genuine growth and visibility of earnings" are starting to justify premium ratings, according to Catherine Stanley, co-manager of the F&C UK Dynamic Fund, a focused portfolio of UK stocks.

The surprise jump in May's unemployment rate to 5.5% from 5% is in line with our perception of the softening of the US economy rather than a signal of a lurch towards recession, according to Cory Gilchrist, Manager of the Gartmore US Opportunities Fund and the Gartmore SICAV US Opportunities Fund.

Life Trust Insurance plc announces that HSBC Bank is soon to add the Longevity Income Plan (LIP) to its investment panel.