Summary

Since global lockdowns have been relaxed, economic activity has improved. This was certainly the case in July. However, as COVID-19 cases continued to rise across many regions of the United States (US) during the month, we saw the US dollar weaken. Risk assets such as equities, credit, and global listed real estate enjoyed a positive month, and emerging markets outshone their developed market counterparts.

• Global equities, as measured by the FTSE World Total Return index, returned 5.19% for July.
• Government bonds held up relatively well, posting a positive return of 3.43% for the month.
• The Ashburton Global Strategy Fund returned 3.42% for July (this is the movement between the NAV of the 24 June 2020 and NAV of the 29 July 2020). This valuation reflected strong performances from the majority of the Fund’s building blocks between the two pricing dates, although markets pulled back slightly in the last few trading days in July.
• Within the equities bucket, Mundane was the best performer for the month, followed by Lyrical.
• Property manager, AB, performed pretty much in line with its benchmark for the month.
• Colchester was comfortably ahead of the benchmark for the calendar month, whereas the Franklin Templeton Global Total Return Fund was a drag on the portfolio’s performance.

The Ashburton Global Strategy Fund reflects the macroeconomic house view of Ashburton Investments. From a tactical asset allocation perspective, the Fund currently has an overweight position in equities, compared to its long-term strategic asset allocation. This resulted in its exposure to cash being decreased slightly.