JP Morgan Launches Fund To Tap Expected US Recovery

Nick Parmee

11 December 2008

JPMorgan Asset Management is to launch a US equity income fund on 15 December 2008, taking the view that when the global economy revives, it will be led by the US.

Managed by Clare Hart, it will invest primarily in large and mid-cap stocks and will aim for total returns from both dividends and capital appreciation, targeting a dividend yield 1 per cent greater than the S&P 500.

Jasper Berens, head of UK retail sales at JPMAM said: "New products from fund management groups can either tend to be too late or too early in the market cycle. We, however, believe the timing for this launch to be pretty much exactly right and, having listened and acted on our clients' feedback, we are confident it is a product of significant demand."

Mr Berens said UK financial advisors and investors are too heavily exposed to UK equity income funds at a time when the UK economy is and will continue to suffer.

The firm said that in a recent poll it conducted among advisors, most of the respondents think the US equity market has the best chance of outperforming equities on average. Some 51 per cent of advisors favoured the US ahead of emerging markets, Japan, the UK and Europe, the poll showed.