The last decade has seen a growth bias among financial assets, one that has become entrenched in equity indices. At the same time, bonds seemingly shed much of their protective qualities, offering investors very little by way of diversification.

Investors should not expect everything to go ‘back to normal' in 2023, says Melda Mergen, Global Head of Equities, Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Higher inflation and a weaker economic environment will mean not all companies will thrive.

One common knock on factor models is that they “replicate only beta” – not the pure alpha gold that allocators seek. This critique pre-dates the appreciation of factor rotations. Outside of some ivory tower statistics class, no one questions the “alpha” generated by, for example, the dotcom-era value vs growth trade or the recent Treasury short.

Samir Saadi, Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager of CPR AM explains that he started the year heavily invested in equities to capture the good momentum of this beginning of the year. Convinced that the year would be special, CPR AM introduced optional hedging positions...

Managers in the U.S. and Europe are continuing to reduce both their net and gross exposures, now converging near their long-term lows. They are selectively selling or shorting stocks that are the most exposed to tighter restrictions, preferring value stocks instead (to position on firming real yields).