LGIM

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.

In the fourth part of our series exploring the asset-allocation response to inflation, we look at the role of currencies.

In the third part of our series exploring the asset-allocation response to inflation, we look at the implications for fixed income.

In the latest episode of LGIM’s Unfiltered series, LGIM’s multi-asset experts Justin Onuekwusi (Head of Retail Investments, EMEA), Chris Teschmacher (Fund Manager) and Chris Jeffery (Head of Inflation and Rates Strategy) unpack the inflation story, examining what it means for investors and identifying some key considerations for financial advisers navigating this challenging landscape.

French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss once said that "the wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions". Having accepted that we can't predict the path of inflation with confidence, what are the questions we can ask ourselves? This is part two in a series exploring LGIM’s asset-allocation response to inflation, with more to come on fixed income, equities and currency.

Lacking a crystal ball to guide our inflation views, we must embrace the uncertainty and make pragmatic decisions to deal with all scenarios. In this series of blogs, LGIM look at the questions they think they can answer about inflation and the impact it’s having on how they manage fixed income, equities and currencies in the context of overall asset allocation.

What happens when inflation and geopolitics collide? To find out, join LGIM’s experts Justin Onuekwusi, Chris Teschmacher and Chris Jeffery for our next Unfiltered virtual coffee break on 24 March. They’ll also share the four steps they’re taking to tackle inflation in portfolios and what financial advisers need to know to navigate this challenging landscape.

As the conflict in Ukraine leads to a humanitarian crisis, we consider how the invasion could shape the economic outlook and where market sentiment could go from here.

The West has imposed a barrage of sanctions on Russia, from hampering its central bank to cutting off some of its banks from SWIFT. What effect will these steps have?

In our fourth post in this series, we look at the questions that Russia's invasion raises for the global economy. We also outline our views on the outlook for Fed, BoE and ECB policy.

In the third blog in our series on the crisis in Ukraine, we examine the effect on the European consumer, the central-bank response, and our positioning.

In the first of a two-part blog, we delve into the metaverse, and consider how far the vision is from becoming a (virtual) reality.

After years of underinvestment, the world is in the early stages of a potential global gas crisis. But with ambitious global climate targets largely incompatible with natural gas demand, uncertainty abounds.

Taking a step back from day-to-day market movements, we have reflected on our team's overall investment strategy outlook and economic thinking. An update of our established framework of recession indicators suggests that the economy has moved into late cycle much faster than we expected. This makes our bullish view on equities more tactical than it was before.

Commodity investments can provide diversification and hedging benefits against inflation risk, but are not a panacea. Good performance in inflationary periods has historically been offset by lower long-term return expectations. Our view of the trade-off suggests commodities can play a role in portfolios, bringing beneficial diversification potential, when needed.

LGIM review the Bank of England's decision to increase its interest rate to 0.50% and the implications for the economy, gilts, and corporate bonds.

Frontier markets (FMs) have performed well in recent months. Have valuations now become stretched?