Investment Newsletter February 2014
A Balanced Portfolio By Mike Deverell Investment Manager
Since the beginning of the year, markets seemed to have embarked on a roller coaster ride. The FTSE 100 ended 2013 at 6,749 before rising as high as 6,836 on 20 January. However, we then saw worries about growth in emerging markets, and some slightly disappointing data from the USA. This hit markets which dropped back globally, the FTSE dropping as low as 6,449 at close on 4 February. It has subsequently rebounded somewhat. Those of you who have read the past few newsletters will recall we had become slightly less positive about equity markets. To recap, this doesn’t mean we do not think we can see some good returns, but the risks have
certainly increased and markets certainly don’t look as “cheap” as they were. As a result, we had made several changes to portfolios by the end of 2013: •
Reduced equity to an “underweight” position
•
Increased exposure to property, where we see some potentially good returns
•
Increased exposure to cash with the intention of investing back into markets on a dip or creating a new “Defined Returns” product
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