Regions

GLOBAL - Confidence in the US equity market is at an all-time low, Threadneedle Investments claims.

GLOBAL - Baring Asset Management has linked-up with private equity firm Coller Capital to launch its first private equity secondaries fund, targeting high net worth individuals and small-sized institutions in the UK, Switzerland, and the Far East.

GLOBAL - Barclays Global Investors has denied claims that its decision to drop plans to outsource its back-office administration was influenced because of a possible takeover.

EUROPE/UK - Inco Europe - the regional arm of Canadian mining and metals company Inco - has appointed Rothschild Asset Management to manage a £20m specialist UK equities mandate as part of its £60m European Pension Plan.

GLOBAL - Global Investment Advisors - the London based global bonds and alternatives specialists - has launched a new fund in a tie-up with the CSFB-Tremont Hedge Fund Index.

GLOBAL - Investors should be wary of ‘style-investing' which can make higher returns look easy, according to new research by Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM).

GLOBAL - Latin America markets are proving attractive in the current climate because of their defensive qualities, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

GLOBAL - Some 90% of investors favour a single global accounting standard, new research from management consultancy McKinsey & Company shows.

EUROPE - The tie-up between settlement houses Belgian Euroclear Group and UK-based Crestco has promised to cut market costs, by as much as 90% in some cases.

GLOBAL- London-based HSBC Specialist Investments (HSI) - part of HSBC Global Asset Management- has raised £125m from institutional investors in the UK, Europe and Asia for its for investment in European infrastructure projects.