Infundly Perspectives

This week’s Infundly Research Reads focuses on the constraints, assumptions and operating structures that can materially shape portfolio outcomes. The selected research looks at concentration limits in active funds, manager-level due diligence across European fund groups, contrasting interpretations of the sovereign-bond sell-off, the investment industry’s evolving AI operating model, and the trade-offs embedded in downside-protection strategies.

This week’s Infundly Research Reads focuses on how investment outcomes can be shaped by the processes and assumptions sitting behind the headline proposition. The selected research covers AI bias in investment workflows, benchmark-free portfolio construction, multi-asset allocation, structured-credit opportunities linked to AI infrastructure, and the limits of universal manager-selection signals, all with direct relevance for professional fund selectors and allocators.

August’s market backdrop was shaped by the interaction between inflation uncertainty, energy prices and monetary-policy expectations.

This week’s Infundly Research Reads focuses on the forces shaping portfolio outcomes beyond headline market moves. The selected research examines the sources of inflation, the changing economics of AI exposure, conflicts and governance in private-market continuation vehicles, operational preparedness for T+1 settlement, and the wider cross-market backdrop for allocators.

This week’s Infundly Research Reads focuses on how investment outcomes are shaped not just by asset allocation, but by the structures, assumptions and decision frameworks behind it. The selected research covers active versus passive success rates, target-date glidepaths, AI-enabled investment processes, capital-market assumptions, fund flows and tactical asset allocation — all with direct relevance for professional fund selectors and allocators.

The selected papers and reports examine liquidity governance, active fund selection, performance measurement, systematic factor implementation, macro conditions and the evolving Japanese equity opportunity set. Together, they reinforce the need to test whether reported outcomes, stated investment edges and portfolio characteristics remain credible once differences in methodology, vehicle structure, implementation and market regime are taken into account.

This week’s Research Reads looks at the gap between investment narratives and the exposures, behaviours and governance structures that sit underneath them. The selected research spans macro regime change, factor-driven returns, investment-trust governance, portfolio disclosure and AI-related market concentration, with a common message for selectors: headline outcomes often reveal less than the underlying mechanics that produced them.

This week’s Research Reads focuses on the relationship between governance, implementation and portfolio outcomes. The selected papers challenge several common shortcuts: that greater portfolio flexibility is inherently better, that the cheapest index fund is the best choice, that stated investment conviction translates directly into portfolio exposure, or that currency should be treated as a secondary consideration.

July’s market backdrop was defined by the interaction between geopolitics, energy prices and monetary-policy expectations. Oil moved sharply higher as concerns around Middle Eastern supply routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, brought energy security back to the centre of the macro debate. At the same time, equity-market leadership narrowed. UK equities advanced, supported by their exposure to energy, mining and financials, while US, global and Chinese equities weakened

This week's Infundly Weekly Briefing explores the growing challenge of identifying hidden concentration within investment portfolios. The featured research examines how AI-driven earnings, emerging-market implementation risks, pension fund allocations, thematic investing and long-term asset-allocation trends can create exposures that are less diversified than they first appear. Together, the papers reinforce the importance of looking beyond portfolio labels to assess the unde

This week’s Infundly Research Reads highlights the growing gap between portfolio labels and real-world portfolio behaviour. The key theme is that allocators need to look beyond headline categories, bonds, private markets, AI-enabled research, quantitative credit and target-date design, and test the evidence, governance, implementation and liquidity assumptions behind each strategy.

This week's reading is less about markets and more about the quality of governance behind investment decisions. The common thread is that robust fund selection increasingly depends on understanding how managers are structured, governed and controlled, not simply how portfolios have performed. Alongside this, the Value for Money debate continues to reinforce that fees should be assessed in the context of outcomes and the quality of the investment proposition, rather than cost

This week’s briefing highlights a common due-diligence theme: portfolio labels are becoming less informative than the underlying economic exposures they conceal. Across BlackRock, J.P. Morgan and Loomis Sayles, AI is framed not simply as a technology-sector theme but as a broader driver of earnings, capital expenditure, infrastructure demand and regional market leadership.

New fund research, allocator context and developments relevant to professional investment decision-makers July’s Fund Discovery Briefing brings together Infundly’s latest fund research, market context and key UK industry developments for allocators, advisers, selectors and investment decision-makers. There is a focus on market context from the July Macro Snapshot, recent Infundly Perspectives on ABS and UK equity income, and UK developments relevant to professional fund selec

June looked resilient at first glance. Regional equities outside the U.S. performed well, bonds stabilised, and commodities weakened sharply. Much of the month’s character stemmed from de-escalating geopolitical tensions around Iran, including ceasefire extensions and progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which triggered a sharp drop in oil prices and eased near-term inflation fears.

Asset-backed securities (ABS) can look like a neat answer to the search for diversified income. The harder question is whether the exposure is genuinely diversifying, properly compensated and understandable under stress. For fund selectors, the portfolio role matters more than the label.

June’s Fund Discovery Briefing brings together Infundly’s latest fund research, market context and key UK industry developments for professional fund selectors. This edition highlights new research on Pzena Global Value, WS Raynar UK Smaller Companies and Troy’s multi-asset strategies, alongside the latest Macro Snapshot and developments in money-market fund reform, fund flows and IA sector definitions.

UK equity income should not be assessed by yield alone. The selector needs to establish whether the allocation is intended to produce dependable income, diversify expensive growth exposure or express a deliberate UK and value view. A familiar distribution can be useful. It can also conceal concentration, weak dividend resilience or poor capital progression.

Absolute-return and liquid-alternative funds are often bought for diversification, but the label is too broad to support conviction on its own. Some strategies may reduce dependence on equities, credit or duration. Others can deliver expensive, opaque or inconsistent outcomes that look useful in theory but disappoint in a portfolio.

May was a month of market resilience rather than macro comfort. The US-Iran conflict remained an important source of uncertainty, particularly for oil prices and inflation expectations, while central banks continued to face a difficult policy backdrop. Yet equity markets advanced, helped by the combination of AI-related optimism, resilient earnings and improving hopes that the immediate energy shock could fade.