How to capture growth in an autocallable world

Strategists are cautioning investors to look beyond autocallables and take advantage of low volatility to buy growth products. The banks have listened, engineering new solutions to capture upside. But will investors take the bait? Yakob Peterseil reports.

Strategists at investment banks across London have been reporting the same thing recently: an uncanny feeling of déjà vu. With volatility down and stocks up, a number of bankers are remarking that today's markets are in some ways beginning to look very similar to what they last saw in 2006 and 2007. The memory is bringing with it not a warm rush of nostalgia, but concern.

Pete Clarke, equity derivatives strategist at UBS in London, says the last time we had strong equity returns and lower