Columbia Threadneedle Investments

The duration rally over the month of August was eye-watering. The whole German sovereign bond curve, out to 30 years, now trades with a negative yield, with half the European investment grade bond universe also yielding below zero.

While Europe’s fragmentation has hindered development of a mass-market giant to rival those from the US and China, its distinctive technology businesses are competing successfully in global markets.

The strong rally in markets during the first three months of 2019 reversed the trend seen at the end of last year. The US Federal Open Market Committee’s March meeting confirmed that the Fed has moved from mobilising against an inflation overshoot to trying to correct the postglobal financial crisis inflation undershoot.

According to Simon Bond, Threadneedle (Lux) European Social Bond Fund manager, the fund aims to balance three key elements: clear social impact, daily liquidity and financial return with a similar risk/return profile as a regular investment grade fund...

A decade after the financial crisis, the uncertain economic conditions it ushered in are starving Europe’s investors of returns. We believe this makes our approach to long/short equity investing more valuable than ever.