Global equities suffered heavy losses in October, as investors tried to come to terms with the full ramifications of the banking crisis and the looming threat of a global recession. Meanwhile, bond yields rose. Despite rising risk aversion among investors, the prospect of high levels of new issuance to pay for bank bail-outs depressed prices.Within the Fund we currently have a comparatively large position in equities via the US, while maintaining a strategic underweight in emerging markets. The Fund also retains a comparatively high cash weighting. Within commodities, we have reduced exposure to energy and commodities.All asset classes suffered a heavy fall in October and as a result the Fund underperformed the benchmark. The main impacts came from real estate and UK equities while UK investment grade bonds, emerging market equities and overseas high yield bonds also impacted negatively.