M&G Investments

At M&G Investments, our main priority as we respond to COVID-19 is the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and continuing to deliver the highest level of service to our clients and customers.

The Chinese market has held up remarkably well since this crisis began. In fact, it’s one of the best performing equity markets globally, which is perhaps surprising given that the virus originated there and, indeed, the Chinese economy has always been perceived to be a proxy for global economic growth.

Emerging markets have recently seen other impacts than the tragic ones of COVID-19 outbreaks on their societies and economies, with spreads widening considerably. Three factors have been at play. First, was a rapid sell-off in global stock markets that followed the realisation that the global economy is heading for a recession. Second, investors shifted to intense risk aversion and the demand …

A lot can change in a month. While many of us grapple with the new daily regime of lockdowns, remote working, home schooling and scouring the shops for that last fabled toilet roll, it’s worth taking a moment to review what has happened to credit markets over the past few weeks. Even in social isolation, one would be hard pressed to miss news headlines reporting the sell off in equities and…

In a few short months – a term, hitherto only commonplace in the scientific community, has become firmly entrenched in our collective dialogue. The rapid spread of information (and misinformation) related to the coronavirus, so…

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.