Every quarter, Canterbury's Outsourced CIO committee shares their observations of the market that impact the management of our discretionary portfolios in the Canterbury OCIO Review.
Risk assets rose sharply in the first quarter of 2019, in spite of slowing economic growth. A more accommodative monetary stance by central banks helped to improve investor sentiment, which was affected in 2018 by trade frictions and moves by the Federal Reserve to normalize monetary policy. The political and economic background remains challenging, given possible repercussions of Brexit, the uncertainty of China’s ability to shift from investment-driven to consumer-driven economic growth, and lingering concerns over trade conflicts as a threat to global growth.