Global Opportunities Fund Institutional

The Investment Manager of the CC High Income Bond Funds – EUR and USD has the duty to ensure that the underlying investments of the funds are well diversified. According to the prospectus, the investment manager has to abide by a number of investment restrictions to safeguard the value of the assets

• The fund may not invest more than 10% of its assets in securities listed by the same body
• The fund may not keep more than 10% of its assets on deposit with any one credit institution. This limit may be increased to 30% in respect of deposits with an Approved Institution
• The fund may not invest more than 20% of its assets in any other funds
• The fund may not carry out uncovered sales (naked short-selling) of securities or other financial instruments

April 2021

US equities made solid gains in April. Economic data was encouraging overall. Q1 GDP growth of 6.4% (quarter on quarter, annualised) narrowly missed expectations of 6.7%, and the trade deficit widened. Even so, aggregate business activity – as measured by the composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI – an index of business activity based on a survey of private companies in the manufacturing and services sectors) – climbed to 59.7 in March. The gain was led by the service sector, signalling the biggest uptick since 2014. Consumer confidence, while still below its pre-pandemic level, also rose strongly. Meanwhile, 70% of the US population has now had at least one shot of the vaccine.

And while the recent data have been encouraging, the policy environment is set to stay highly accommodative for some time. President Biden has followed up his $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus bill with a proposed $2 trillion in infrastructure and manufacturing subsidies. The Federal Reserve also confirmed its willingness to run the economy “hot” – or above the long-term inflation target – to the support economic recovery and full employment. It further stated it expects its targets for stable economic growth are still “some time” away and that asset purchases would continue until then.  

Investor sentiment was supported by the combined economic and policy backdrops, but also a robust earnings season. Big tech firms were particularly strong – the combined revenues of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft jumped 41% in Q1. Consumer discretionary stocks were also buoyant, tallying with rising consumer confidence. Energy and consumer staples lagged the wider index with weaker aggregate gains.

Eurozone shares also gained in April. After the outperformance of lowly valued parts of the market in recent months, higher growth areas tended to perform better in April. At sector level, information technology was among the top performers along with real estate and consumer staples. Energy registered a negative return. Within the consumer discretionary sector, automotive stocks saw some profit-taking after March’s strong gains, while luxury goods fared well. The Q1 earnings season began on a positive note. In particular, several banks have been able to reduce reserves, or lower provisioning levels, because government and central bank support has so far averted a wave of bad loans.

Several countries, including Germany, continued to battle rising Covid-19 infections. However, rates slowed in Italy, enabling the government to loosen restrictions in some regions. Many eurozone countries began to speed up the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines. Germany’s constitutional court rejected an appeal against the EU recovery fund, which is set to be disbursed from July.

GDP data showed the eurozone economy contracted by 0.6% in Q1. Forward-looking data was more encouraging with the manufacturing PMI survey reaching a new record high of 63.4. Eurozone annual inflation was estimated at 1.6% for April, up from 1.3% in March. However, the core measure, which excludes energy prices, was up just 0.8%. The European Central Bank had quickened the pace of its asset purchases in March, due to the renewed wave of the virus, and confirmed in April that it would maintain this pace so as to avoid a rise in borrowing costs that could jeopardise the economic recovery. 

Emerging market equities recorded a gain in April aided by dollar weakness but underperformed developed markets. Covid-19 continues to be a concern in several EM, with India suffering a notable surge in cases during the month, while the pace of vaccinations in many EM remains slow.

The Investment Manager believes that with equity markets having risen significantly over the last year, the gains from here are likely to be at a slower pace and with some bumps in the road. However, assuming the vaccines are effective at preventing hospitalisation against all variants of the virus, growth should be set to boom as soon as restrictions can be lifted. Against that backdrop, the Investment Manager remains positive on the outlook for equities.