Welcome to our 2022 Winter edition of Investment Perspectives.

Economies and markets have never been predictable, but it could be argued that the last two years would be close to the top of the rankings for unpredictability. Economists and investors have seen large surprises to the upside and downside of consensus in both economic data and corporate fundamentals, as we continue to recover from one of the largest peace-time economic shocks.

If global markets had aimed to be more predictable in 2022, the New Year’s resolution has already been broken with a bout of volatility and notable change of tone in January. Although one month is too short a time period to draw any meaningful conclusions about what lies ahead, there remains an elevated level of uncertainty as some of the second-order effects of the pandemic become apparent. In this environment we continue to believe in the wisdom and merits of long-term investing across a diversified portfolio and aim to continue to help clients navigate these issues.

In our latest edition of Investment Perspectives, Chris Arcari covers some of these themes in more detail, focusing on the last quarter of 2021 in his capital markets update. In addition:

• Asad Rashid discusses diversity of thought in investment teams and how it can lead to improved outcomes, using a series of case studies;
• Elaine Torry discusses liquidity risks in private markets and what that means for pension funds looking to access the illiquidity premium; and
• Penny Cochrane discusses direct lending covering the evolution of the asset class, performance and the potential opportunity it presents to investors.

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