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2Q22 ending with more than a whimper
2Q22 ending with more than a whimper

Against a backdrop of market volatility, slowing economic growth in Europe and North America, gasoline prices and mortgage rates in the US firmly above $5 a gallon and 5%, respectively, continued fighting in Ukraine and ongoing Covid-related disruptions to China-based supply chains, investors pulled over $45 billion from EPFR-tracked Equity, Bond, Alternative and Balanced Funds during the third week of June.

Investors parse the meaning of transitory going into December
Investors parse the meaning of transitory going into December

Hopes that the impact of Covid’s Omicron variant will prove transitory, concern that it will not, and fears that inflation is here to stay whip-sawed global markets during the final days of November. Concerns about the latter issue were crystalized by recently reappointed US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s admission that price pressures could spur the Fed to accelerate the tapering of its asset purchases.

Caution reigns in early October
Caution reigns in early October

The first week of October saw US lawmakers sparring over the country’s debt ceiling, authorities in China scrambling to limit the wider damage property giant Evergrande’s debt crisis may cause, and central bankers from Canada to Poland wrestling with the tradeoff between economic growth and rising prices.

Out with the old, in with the other
Out with the old, in with the other

In the financial world, the search for the ‘new normal’ started in the aftermath the great financial crisis as central banks unleashed unprecedented levels of quantitative easing on global asset markets. Among hedge funds, those offering established strategies – long/short, commodity trading, multi-strategy – have seen modest asset growth over the past decade while those offering something different have fared much better.