M&G Investments

As the coronavirus outbreak has continued to spread around the world, fears about the potential impact on the global economy have also increased. Financial markets have been extremely volatile lately and major central banks are now expected to take steps to support their economies damaged by the virus.

The coronavirus outbreak has replaced trade wars as the dark storm bearing on markets, sending jitters across global financial markets amid fears of a hit to the global economy.

A question I have often been asked lately is “is the Greta effect going to last?”. How much influence is this public figure going to have and are the social movements she inspired really going to transform our society? The honest answer is...

Could Trump take aim at the EU, again? Investment Specialist Kirsty Clark, discusses the prospect of a trade war between the US and the EU.

Join M&G for the Meet the Managers live stream on Thursday 26 September at 10:00.

In the past, central banks set the price of money using interest rates. In the future, it seems, they will be giving it away. This week the US Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25 per cent.

Geopolitical risks appear to be a recurring theme impacting global markets and can have a significant influence on the short and medium term direction of asset prices. ‘Political risk’ and ‘geopolitical risk’ are terms often used interchangeably, but for analytical purposes, it can be useful to distinguish between the two.

Central banks are at a crossroads, and if they carry on, maybe a dead-end. The good news, though, is twofold: central bankers recognise the need to reassess their frameworks and they are coming at it from a point of strength: unemployment at multi-decade lows in most of the developed world.

It is now three years since Britain voted to leave the EU (in case anyone needed reminding). We are all aware of never-ending twists and turns in this saga, even if we are none the wiser as to the final conclusion. But, we ask, with the benefit of hindsight, how have financial markets moved since the referendum vote? And are there any lessons readers can take from this experience for thinking about how to invest when faced with uncertainty today, or, indeed, at any time in the future?

The world is facing a rising tide of societal challenges, from the potential chaos associated with the breakdown of our climate, to unsustainable levels of waste and pollution, to vast and growing social inequality. Find out more about how investors are playing an increasingly pivotal role in directing capital to where it is most needed.

The investment industry has gone through a myriad of changes since the turn of the 20th century, fuelled by innovation, technology, regulatory changes and evolving investor preferences. Over the past five decades, we’ve witnessed a sizeable uptick in the pace of this…

It is often easier to conceptualise ESG considerations when making investments at a corporate level. A company’s activities are often relatively narrow in focus, and forming a direct link between the company and those activities that we don’t support (polluting, gambling, smoking, drinking and so on) or those that we do (health, education, renewable resources) is usually relatively clear.

Please join Tom Dobell, fund manager of the M&G Recovery Fund, and other members of the Recovery Team as the fund celebrates its 50th birthday. During the webcast they will discuss why recovery investing is as relevant today as when the fund launched, their outlook on the UK market and why this presents a favourable picture for recovery investing and how the fund is positioned. 

Following two years of debate against Tech giants, Mark Zuckerberg wrote an article asking for regulation

This March marks the 10-year anniversary of the longest bull market in history that has been ploughing on in the US since early March 2009. The S&P 500 Index has delivered a staggering 400% in total returns over the decade. In addition, the US economic cycle is the second longest…

While responsible investment is hardly a new concept, there is a fair degree of confusion around some of the more recently introduced terminology – namely what is meant by ‘ESG’ (environmental, social and governance) and how this fits into the spectrum of traditional ‘ethical’ investing, ‘sustainable’ investing and ‘impact’ investing.

Not that we needed anybody’s reassurance, but the UK government’s decision that pension fund trustees must consider financially material ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors in their assessments, definitely helps those who believe that sustainability is becoming a need more than a choice – for society and investors alike.