Monthly Investment Report June2021

RNS Number : 5033E

Ruffer Investment Company Limited

07 July 2021

 

RUFFER INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED

(a closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 41996)

LEI 21380068AHZKY7MKNO47

Attached is a link to the Monthly Investment Report for June 2021.

  http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5033E_1-2021-7-7.pdf

During June the Company's net asset value (NAV) fell by 2.5% as the share price fell by 3.2%. This compared with a rise of 0.2% in the FTSE All-Share total return index.

The June meeting of the US Federal Reserve was always going to be closely watched. With the US economy continuing to re-open, US employment levels recovering, and inflationary pressures rising, investors were on the lookout for any change from the Fed's hitherto very accommodative stance. Market action in response to the meeting confirmed investors' faith in the omnipotence and omniscience of central banks remains undimmed. The Fed's commentary fully acknowledged recent surging inflation prints, nascent wage growth and increasing bottlenecks. This prompted short-term bond yields to rise, confirming US interest rates might begin to rise slightly sooner than originally thought. The fact long bond yields actually fell after the meeting, suggests markets have totally bought the Fed view the present inflationary pressures will be merely transitory, and only the slightest tap of the brakes should be necessary to bring everything back under control.

These dynamics were undeniably unhelpful for the portfolio in the later part of June. The decline in long bond yields took the wind out of the sails of the portfolio's cyclical and financial equities. The rising US dollar, reflecting the slight change in interest rate expectations, hobbled gold, while the feeling all would be 'right on the inflation night' caused breakevens to fall.

We continue to believe growth expectations in the eurozone are under-priced, and less exuberant growth in the US can thus be compensated elsewhere. We are also sceptical of the view of inflation as transitory. Our reasons for this view have been well rehearsed on prior occasions, but recovering wage growth, eye-watering government spending the world over, fractured supply chains and the fact not all capacity will return post-pandemic are only a few. However we are not bullet-headed. We have always said the road to the inflationary end game would encompass many diversions, and have its bumpy moments when our views might look well offside. To protect against such discomforts, we have increased the portfolio's US dollar exposure on a tactical basis and trimmed the gold bullion position. If there is one indicator the reflation trade is intact it is that the US dollar should be declining. Thus as we watch the economic data in the coming months, a higher exposure to the US currency, even if only on a short-term basis, seems to us an entirely appropriate way of expressing our long-held aspiration to be approximately right rather than exactly wrong."

Enquiries:

Praxis Fund Services Limited

Gail Adams

DDI: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]  

 

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