The third quarter of the year has started off in the same vein as the first half of 2022, however the focus on markets looks to be subtly changing from an emphasis on inflation to the future consequences that tightening monetary policy may create.

Defined return funds continue to be a key holding within our alternative allocation due to their inbuilt defensive characteristics, with the opportunity to produce alpha over the longer term.

Investments have had a difficult start to the year due to the changing economic conditions which are dominating the headlines and repricing the prospects for assets.

After the UK markets closed yesterday, news got released that some of Prime Minister Johnson’s closest allies resigned from their posts in the cabinet with immediate effect.

The team added exposure to the Lightman European fund during the first quarter of this year.

Since the start of a year, higher inflation, changing central bank rhetoric, the Ukraine war and headwinds to growth and spending have caused markets to price in greater volatility.

Infrastructure continues to be a significant allocation within all our portfolios.

The investment team recently met with the managers of the Franklin Clearbridge Infrastructure Income fund to discuss the recent performance of the fund and the long-term opportunities within the infrastructure asset class.

The Lightman fund is an all-cap Europe ex UK strategy that invests with a strict valuation process, meaning that the fund tilts towards being more value orientated.

The US Federal Reserve are meeting later today for their next open committee meeting, and it seems that they will be enacting a 25-bps interest hike, which will take the US base rate to 0.25-0.5% from 0- 0.25%.