The best strategy now may be to do nothing

The markets are as risky as ever but returns are lower than usual. So the best thing to do at the moment is turn to cash and do nothing. But with savings rates pitiful, that's easier said than done, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

Given the excellent performance of global markets over the last few months, I am mightily relieved that at various points over the last year I have managed to at least partially overcome my intense bearishness and recommend a few investments.

There is Japan which has finally recovered enough (hitting an 18 month high) to not be embarrassing any more; gold, which has as usual been a satisfying success; a few defensive investment trusts; and some international equities with the kind of global franchises that give them a chance of holding their own whether there is a double dip ahead or not.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.