Another quarter passes by, and markets remain the most difficult environment many of us have seen in years. Following the ‘budget’ from the Conservative Government at the end of September, the Bank of England stepped back into the UK gilt market for the first time since 2008, and the pound fell to record low levels. The war in Ukraine is ongoing, with recession looming in Europe as inflation continues to inch higher.
Despite the current macro-economic backdrop, we continued to see a decrease in the number of users searching for the Inflation Protection outcome, with searches declining from 14% to 12.8%, in Q2 and Q3 respectively. Capital Accumulation remained the most searched for outcome with over 50% of all views, whist interest in Capital Preservation fell by 4.5%.
Given the uncertainty over Fixed Income, it was no surprise that searches for this asset classes dropped from 27.5% to 24.6% in Q2 to Q3, respectively. Multi Asset saw a slight uptick at 22.0%, whilst Equity remained in first place with 51.9% of the share of views.
For the most viewed IA sectors, A UK All Companies and IA Sterling Strategic Bond sectors remained in the top spots, as they have done for the entirety of 2022. However, the IA Mixed Investment 20-60% moved into third place, closely followed by the IA Target Absolute Return sector, with 8.4% and 7.8% of views respectively.
Looking closer at the most viewed fund groups, Baillie Gifford moved to first place this quarter, up from fifth place in Q2. Jupiter Asset Management and Schroders remained in a comfortable second and third, making up 5.9% and 5.6% of views, respectively.
The Ninety One UK Alpha fund was the most searched fund of the quarter, followed by the Premier Miton Multi-Asset Distribution and Baillie Gifford Multi Asset Growth funds.
After storming into second place last quarter, the Wellington Global Impact Bond fund continued to move up the ranks, making it to first place for most viewed Responsible Investment funds. The FSSA Greater China Growth and FSSA Asia Focus funds followed in second and third place for this quarter.
On our Fund Dashboard, views for the ESG pillar spiked by over 10% in Q3, with 36.2% of total views. The Opinion pillar remained the highest, accounting for 27.6% of total views, whilst views for Risk decreased by almost half, down to just 8.6% of views.
Turning to the Risk-Targeted funds, although Liontrust maintained top spot, there was a sharp drop in views, from 46.2% to 26% in Q2 to Q3, respectively. With two new funds entering the Academy of Funds last quarter, Rathbones appeared third with 12.4% of views.
There has been little change from a Passive perspective, with Vanguard, Legal & General and BlackRock remaining the top 3 fund groups over Q3.
For a quick snapshot of the findings from Square Mile's Q3 2022 Market Intelligence Report, download the summary report. If you would like more information, get in touch.
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