QUALITY INVESTMENTS FOR VOLATILE TIMES

When investment seas get rough, quality income-producers will get you through

ELEVATED INFLATION, driven by the unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus in the wake of the pandemic, and exacerbated by Russian's invasion of the Ukraine, has remained a challenge for central banks and the wider global economy during 2022.

Although inflation has finally begun to ease in many economies, it still remains significantly above their longer-term targets. Central banks have made it clear that they will maintain their rate hiking cycle, and higher interest rates in general, until inflation is well under control.

Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has vowed to raise rates to fight inflation 'until the job is done', setting the path for continued interest rate increases and a consumer coming under increasing pressure as we move towards the end of the year.