Worries about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, snarled supply chains, rising inflation and fears about possible recessionary slowdown have resulted in weakness across markets, particularly in tech-related areas. Fidelity Global Special Situations portfolio manager Jeremy Podger shares his observations on recent developments and discusses where opportunities are starting to emerge.

Nicholas Price, portfolio manager of Fidelity Japan Trust PLC, reviews recent market movements in Japan amid a sharp rotation of away from growth stocks and sectors. He discusses what lies ahead for investors and outlines the compelling long-term opportunity among small and medium-sized companies with sustainable growth prospects.

Alex Wright, portfolio manager of Fidelity Special Situations & Special Values PLC, shares his latest outlook for UK equities. As investor sentiment shows signs of turning overly pessimistic, he outlines why, as a contrarian investor with a value focus, he is growing increasingly optimistic about certain areas of the domestic market.

The war in Ukraine is leading to temporarily higher emissions as some countries switch to dirtier fuels and away from politically toxic Russian oil and gas. Over the longer-term however, portfolio managers Velislava Dimitrova and Cornelia Furse believe the conflict will accelerate the adoption of alternative energy solutions. They review the factors they see indicating the growing momentum of the climate movement.

First-quarter earnings for 2022 have so far not delivered many upsets, even if the post-pandemic lustre is fading. Looking to next year, however, the red-hot US labour market could threaten earnings – making it all the more important to turn to a broad set of data points to build a picture of what to expect.

In the final part of LGIM’s series on the asset allocation response to inflation, we look at equities. The traditional view is that equities exhibit real-asset-type qualities and are thus a relatively good place to be in a period of rising inflation. While we agree with that general statement, the relationship is a bit more complicated in the details.

Having recently gone through a successful 10 years at the helm of Fidelity Global Situations, portfolio manager Jeremy Podger looks ahead to what the next decade could have in store for investors. In particular, he identifies 10 trends that are set to increasingly influence returns and discusses what this means for stock selection and portfolio construction.

The past few months have delivered a number of unwelcome developments resulting in greater risks to economic growth, higher inflation and more volatile markets.