At times of extreme market stress, investment trusts tend to behave more like equities than funds, with the prevailing sense of nervousness driving their prices well beyond their underlying net asset values. This discount volatility creates both an extra source of risk as well as a potential opportunity. Whenever the market experiences a sharp sell-off…
The threat of a hard Brexit has held back the performance of domestically orientated UK stocks and created a value opportunity for those who believe that the economy will withstand all the business and political uncertainty surrounding the negotiations. If you share this view you might want to consider the Aurora Investment Trust (LON:ARR). This…
Despite all the dire threats and warnings 2017 turned out to be another strong year for the markets with each of the main equity regions posting healthy gains. The most profitable areas to invest in were the Far East and the Emerging Markets with 11-month returns to the end of November of 27% and 21%…
Two funds operating in the listed infrastructure sector have announced that they have significant exposure to Carillion through the subcontracting of facilities management services on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects and public-private partnerships (PPP). They have recently provided details about how they will be affected by the compulsory liquidation of the company. The biggest potential…
Traditionally investors have been able to diversify fairly simply by using a mixture of bonds and equities, but with the world’s central banks starting to reduce liquidity there is a good chance that both asset classes will weaken in unison. Many alternatives also look vulnerable, which creates a major challenge for fund investors who want…
A modern economy can only function efficiently if its infrastructure is up to the task. Essential assets like good quality roads, bridges, railways and hospitals play a vital role in all of our everyday lives, but these facilities are expensive to construct and maintain and command premium prices. Historically most of the critical infrastructure in…
From 1st January all investment trusts have had to publish a Key Information Document (KID) before their shares can be made available to retail investors. This sort of standardised information can be useful, but unfortunately some of the prescribed content can be highly misleading. One of the most surprising aspects of the new KID is…
Miton Global Opportunities (LON:MIGO) is a highly unusual fund that aims to profit from pricing inefficiencies by buying investment trusts that are trading on wide discounts where there is a clear catalyst for them to narrow. It had a fantastic 2017 by investing in four of the ten best performing trusts in the market and…
There are mixed views about the peer-to-peer finance sector – where those with spare cash can make direct loans to those who want to borrow − with some investors believing that it is a bubble waiting to burst, while others see it as a viable alternative to the banks and an attractive source of returns.…
Brexit has had a dramatic impact on the returns from the UK stock market with many companies that derive the majority of their earnings from the domestic economy struggling to make any headway, whereas those whose business is mainly abroad have surged ahead. In order to measure and monitor this effect the index provider, Bats,…
