10th April 2008

News from Trustnet: ISA season falters; alternative investments

Investors seeking to shelter their investments from tax have not eschewed the ISA route this year, although for some this has not always been through fresh investment but rather a shifting of shares already owned to a tax wrapper.

According to the Investment Management Association net sales of ISAs were down at the start of the year, with outflows of £68.4m in January compared with inflow of £17m in December and £30.9m in January 2007. To what extent the uncertainties of the stock market have impacted investors will be evident when we see how successful the ISA season was. Our report gathers comment on the situation to date.

Until relatively recently, alternative energy was a bit part player in the investment industry. The companies involved were mostly small and unprofitable. Investors needed a very long time horizon or high principles to consider it.

But regulatory drivers have conspired with increased consumer awareness and a soaring oil price to push alternative energy into the forefront of investing, and the sector has attracted several new launches over the past six months. But is it a good investment or simply the latest green fad? Read this piece for more insight.

Alternative energy switch-on

In recent years, globalisation has removed some of the rationale for investing in emerging markets. Once, they were relatively independent of Western economic cycles but that non-correlation is slowly evaporating. According to Standard & Poor’s, correlation between emerging markets and developed equity markets is now over 80%, with obvious implications for investors wishing to diversify their portfolios with global holdings.

So, if the risks of emerging markets and BRIC funds (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are not enough to satisfy your adrenalin cravings, new frontier indices could be the answer. These encompass the next generation of budding markets, those too small and under-developed to classify as truly emerging. Our article sets out the pros and cons.