bonds

PENSIONS CAMPAIGNERS have labelled the government's plans for the Financial Assistance Scheme "no more than a first step" and suggest more needs to be done to compensate 85,000 victims of wound-up pension schemes, says the Daily Telegraph.

Officials at the insurance giant Legal and General have this afternoon expressed their sadness and condolences to the family of John Monckton, after he was fatally stabbed by intruders at his Chelsea home yesterday.

Poor current yields on 10-year US Treasuries relative to equities suggest strong demand relative to supply, yet this does not square with other data showing US investors are still bullish on equities.

Pressures to shift holdings away from UK equities to primarily corporate bonds will continue to drive strategic holding decisions amongst pension fund trustees and life assurance companies, according to Legal&General research.

Sainsbury is adopting a riskier investment strategy in equities for its £3.3bn final salary pension scheme to try and cut its contribution requirements by around £30m a year, says the Daily Telegraph .

Interest in fixed income markets could soar with further development of "synthetic" bonds using derivatives to offer better yields than "real" bonds.

A study of asset allocation by 360 UK pension schemes with assets totalling £112bn has found 20% are putting all new contributions into bonds alone, says consultant Mercer.

This year's investment story will be equities mixed with bonds because people will be more interested in avoiding losses than taking on risk to back winners, says Phil Wagstaff, managing director UK retail M&G.