The climb is tough and we haven't reached cruising altitude yet

In this week’s episode of our Investment Insights podcast, Mark Winterburn (Head of Investment Advisory UK) and Thanh Cung (Discretionary Portfolio Manager) discuss our views in relation to the recent US Federal Reserve communication on transitory inflation and what this means for the reduction of bond purchases and interest rate tightening. Next, Thanh moves onto the US labour market and how the last payrolls number may not tell the whole picture on the employment backdrop. Finally, the two look closer at the opportunities that have emerged from the market sell-off (and subsequent recovery) in relation to the omicron covid variant and the Federal Reserve’s recent communications. Mark concludes with some comments on small cap stocks and why the recent volatility in our view presents a buying opportunity in this space.