The government is spending lots ...

January 2023

Following a strong year in 2022 (up 13%), the Fund was up 1.6% in January 2023.

The investment landscape changed markedly late in 2021, and the key question on every investor’s mind since then should be whether it will flip smoothly back again, or whether this new landscape will prevail. We noted the following in Ruchir Sharma’s article of the 29th January 2023 in the Financial Times: “Combined stimulus in the US, the EU, Japan and the UK, including government spending and central bank asset purchases, rose from 1 per cent of gross domestic product in the recessions of 1980 and 1990 to 3 per cent in 2001, 12 per cent in 2008 and a staggering 35 per cent in 2020.”

With government spending appearing to be one way traffic, a quick and painless switch back to the old investment landscape looks less and less likely. Please see the Portfolio Positioning section of the factsheet as to why Kennox feels this suits our style well.