UK Retail Investors Piling Into Gilts, Says AJ Bell (FT)

Late on Thursday investment platform AJ Bell told the FT (click for full article) that “UK retail investors have been piling into Gilts and other fixed-income products in search of higher returns and lower risk despite a sharp sell-off.”

• AJ Bell’s CEO noted that its customers had lifted their investments in Gilts by a “meaningful amount.” He went on to day that “I’ve been here for 16 years, I have not seen Gilts and fixed-income products being bought with anything like the volume that we’ve seen.”
• “People in that uncertain environment were thinking: ‘I don’t want this money sat here doing nothing . . . but I’m not confident that now is the time for a big equity market play’.”
• This apparent retail appetite for Gilts is at odds with the more cautious outlook provided by a chunk of the buy-side (a matter that we touched on yesterday, here).