Allocation

?It has been and remains a tough time to be a European equity fund manager. That generally should be considered an immediate warning to look out for lame excuses as to why a fund is underperforming. Or it might actually be an interesting way of thinking about how political uncertainty, combined with an arguably overvalued bond market, is having repercussions for equities.

Global bond markets, especially emerging markets, took it on the chin over the past five trading days as investors reacted to the U.S. election results and soaring expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike in December.

Here we go again. As we saw post the UK’s EU Referendum result, financial markets sold off following Trump’s election win, with risk assets being the main casualty; however, by the end of Wednesday US equities were back in the black and investors took solace in Trump’s statesmanlike acceptance speech.

Nomura, Asia’s global investment bank, today announced the launch of its first robo advisor, providing automated, goal-based asset management advisory services to retail investors in Japan. Developed jointly with Nomura Research Institute, the service is now available via the Nomura Securities Japanese homepage.

Global uncertainty to remain as election result signals further rolling back of globalisation themes, with emerging markets likely to see greatest impact. For the US, the Republican sweep in both houses will facilitate Trump’s agenda with a focus on domestic growth, spending and fiscal stimulus.