Fixed income
Nuveen remains constructive on global bond markets. Despite tight credit spreads in some areas, yields are attractive, fundamentals strong and investor demand high. It thinks that it makes sense for investors to exercise broad diversification and take advantage of the nimbleness and flexibility offered by active management.

Nuveen expects long-term rates to remain range-bound even as short-term rates decline. It advocates maintaining neutral duration and focusing on credit opportunities. Investment grade credit faces potential headwinds from tight credit spreads and extended duration.

Municipal bonds rank among Nuveen’s top preferences. Strong fundamentals support improving prices and attractive relative value. The upward-sloping municipal yield curve offers compelling yields for those who are seeking to extend duration.

In DWS' view, market-implied inflation expectations are too high. As a result, yields on US Treasuries are likely to edge lower, with bond prices moving higher. It believes that emerging market sovereign bonds are still attractive. “Selected bonds from emerging markets remain appealing. Potential total returns of around 10 per cent represent a reasonable compensation for the higher risk involved,” DWS said.

Real estate
Nuveen is bullish on private real estate’s ongoing recovery. Price returns are strengthening across geographies and property types, driven initially by rising income returns and reduced supply. It anticipates capital appreciation gains as well over the coming quarters.

Among sectors, Nuveen’s favoured areas include light industrial, convenience-oriented retail, healthcare and global housing. Light industrial features low vacancy rates and limited new supply given the difficulties associated with industrial zoning.

Real estate debt remains attractive with wide spread premiums, though it increasingly favours equity as the recovery broadens. Public REITs have rallied, with net asset values now near fair value. Nuveen thinks this is a stock-pickers’ market and its focus is on senior housing, healthcare, data centres and manufactured housing/RV resorts providing affordable housing options.

Infrastructure and real assets
Nuveen believes that public infrastructure looks compelling with attractive valuations, durable cash flows and the essential service/defensive characteristics of the underlying businesses. It is focused on regions experiencing the highest power demand growth while avoiding jurisdictions experiencing regulatory scrutiny.

On the private markets side, infrastructure opportunities span equity and debt, particularly assets benefiting from surging power demand and cloud computing expansion. Nuveen favours efficient energy infrastructure over legacy assets, emphasising data centres and sustainability-focused investments supporting environmental transitions.

Farmland remains a long-term allocation for Nuveen for differentiated returns potential and inflation hedging characteristics. However, row crop margins continue moderating, particularly in the US.

Meanwhile, DWS views the recent price declines in gold more as an opportunity to enter than as a signal to exit over the medium to long term. Demand from central banks is likely to remain strong, as many are seeking to partially replace their dollar reserves with gold. DWS prefers gold over silver.

Against the backdrop of the largest oil shock in the Middle East conflict, Laura Cooper, global investment strategist and head of macro credit at Nuveen, believes that renewables demand is rising, economics are compelling, and supply remains constrained. “The current renewables opportunity has little to do with climate policy. It’s about economics: renewable energy has become the lowest cost power available and offers contracted, long-term cash flows,” she said.

This has been echoed by other wealth managers, for example Edmund Shing at BNP Paribas Wealth Management who said that the increased need for energy security has accelerated the energy transition. He is also still positive on the outlook for gold.