Monthly Income quarterly reports - Review of Q1 2026

Performance review

The Monthly Income Portfolios suffered small losses over the quarter but outperformed their performance comparators, particularly the higher risk Monthly Income and Growth Portfolio.

The year began with equity markets reaching new highs and positive returns from bond markets. The portfolios benefitted from an underweight position to the US equity market, and US tech in particular, which lagged UK, European, and Asian stocks. In late February, the applecart was well and truly upset by the outbreak of war between the US, Israel, and Iran, but while government bonds sold off sharply, corporate bonds did not materially underperform in the way one might expect. This has helped the strong relative performance continue. Meanwhile, our exposure to energy stocks, which typically pay attractive dividends, helped cushion some of the blow, although the US underweight became a headwind as we missed some of the US dollar’s ‘safe haven’ rally.