Newton* Believes Outlook for 2010 Unlikely to be Driven by a Traditional Consumer-Led Recovery

Newton* Believes Outlook for 2010 Unlikely to be Driven by a Traditional
Consumer-Led Recovery
Defensive sectors and developing economies set to be key investment focuses

LONDON and NEW YORK, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a recent panel
debate on the outlook for global markets in 2010, a team of Newton's global
fund managers agreed that a 'traditional' consumer driven cyclical recovery
appeared unlikely in the face of continued household debt and high levels of
unemployment. High quality defensive stocks and exposure to developing
economies emerged as some of the key investment focuses for 2010.

Opening the discussion, Iain Stewart, Investment Leader, global funds at
Newton, commented: "We're entering a less leveraged and higher savings
environment which means that both the supply of, and demand for, credit are
likely to be significantly reduced. As a result of this, we are entering a
structural rather than a cyclical change which may last for many years to
come.

"Our theme-led approach helps to identify sectors that we believe will benefit
from the continuing change in financial markets. We are fully invested to
take advantage of this change by focusing on very high quality defensive areas
as well as those companies we believe stand to benefit from growth in emerging
markets."

Ben Russon, Investment Manager - UK Equities, added: "Many UK companies have
positioned themselves for a more bullish outlook than we expect. With the
pressures of unemployment, levels of debt and restricted access to credit for
the foreseeable future, recovery is likely to be fragile and elongated. We are
therefore currently avoiding economically sensitive areas of the market and
are positioning ourselves in non-cyclical sectors where we see the best value
in line with our thematic investment approach."

Looking to Europe, the feeling was that it had not experienced the property
bubble that had hit the US and UK markets and many European economies entered
the recession with lower levels of leverage. Raj Shant, Investment Leader,
Pan-European equities, suggested Europe was better positioned for a recovery
than other developed markets.

He said: "With the European Central Bank pumping money into Europe's money
markets as far back as the summer of 2007, Europe has been better placed to
weather the recent crisis than the US or the UK. Also, the announced
government stimulus programmes will likely have more of an economic impact in
2010 than they have to date."

He added that European growth was also less reliant on consumers and more
export driven, an area which was seeing strong recovery boosted by demand from
the emerging economies. However, he cautioned that the Euro's continued
strength may start to impinge on exports and become a source of dispute with
trading partners.

Looking ahead, Shant said Germany's recovery as the engine of Europe could see
the European Central Bank raising rates next year, putting pressure on the
weaker peripheral economies.

Simon Laing, Investment Manager, US Equities, was just as pessimistic about a
lasting recovery: "Whilst the short term outlook remains positive, the
sustainability of growth beyond 2010, with consumption unlikely to rise
significantly, will need to be driven by a return of private investment spend.
The risk of tax increases and government policy mistakes will likely handicap
this. "

Increased mergers and acquisition activity is likely to be the next driver of
growth in many Asian markets, according to Jason Pidcock, Investment Leader,
Asia-Pacific Equities. "With Asia in line with the 10 year average, markets
could easily go higher, driving leverage buyouts and cross border trades as we
saw at the end of the mid-1980s boom," he said. "Many Asian companies should
benefit over the longer term from the relative strength of their balance
sheets, with corporate indebtedness significantly lower in Asia than in the US
and Europe".

Charlotte Ryland, Investment Manager, global funds said: "We are currently
undergoing a period of global realignment whereby Western economies are in the
midst of adjusting to lower growth, lower levels of leverage and significantly
more regulatory oversight of the banking system. As a result of this
realignment, the developing world continues to present longer-term investment
opportunities, particularly those countries able to stimulate domestic demand
such as China, India and Brazil.

"Equity risk should remain biased towards relatively economically insensitive
sectors with stable cash flows and visible earnings such as telecoms and
medical technology. Commodities such as oil remain interesting, driven by new
sources of demand and declining production."

Iain Stewart fuelled this cautious approach to the next few years, concluding:
"While we cannot predict the shape of the recovery, our theme-led investment
strategy enables us to take advantage of those sectors that are positioned for
growth over the coming years. We believe our defensive positioning will ensure
that we emerge in better shape than those investors who have put all their
money in very high beta stocks."

Notes to Editors:

Newton* is a London-based global asset management subsidiary of The Bank of
New York Mellon Corporation and part of BNY Mellon Asset Management. With
assets under management of more than $65 billion, including assets managed by
Newton Investment Management as dual officers of Newton Capital Management
Limited and The Bank of New York Mellon, Newton's group of affiliated
companies provides a broad range of award-winning investment products and
services to individuals, pension funds, charities and corporations. News and
other information about Newton is available at www.newton.co.uk.

BNY Mellon Asset Management is the umbrella organisation for The Bank of New
York Mellon Corporation's affiliated investment management firms and global
distribution companies.

BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
BNY Mellon is a global financial services company focused on helping clients
manage and service their financial assets, operating in 34 countries and
serving more than 100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial
services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals,
providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing,
issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide
client-focused team. It has $22.1 trillion in assets under custody and
administration and $966 billion in assets under management, services $11.9
trillion in outstanding debt and processes global payments averaging $1.6
trillion per day. Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com.

*'Newton' refers to the following group of affiliated companies: Newton
Investment Management Limited, Newton Capital Management Limited, Newton
International Investment Management Limited, Newton Capital Management LLC and
Newton Fund Managers (CI) Limited. Assets under management include assets
managed by all of these companies except Newton Capital Management LLC, which
provides marketing services in the U.S. for Newton Capital Management Limited.
Except for Newton Capital Management LLC and Newton Capital Management
Limited, none of the other Newton companies offer services in the US and
Canada. Newton Capital Management Limited is an investment management firm
authorized and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services
Authority in the conduct of investment business and is a wholly owned
subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Registered in England
no: 2675952. Newton Capital Management Limited is registered in the United
States as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. All
information source BNY Mellon Asset Management as at 30/09/09. This press
release is qualified for issuance in the UK, US and Canada and is for
information purposes only. It does not constitute an offer or solicitation of
securities or investment services or an endorsement thereof in any
jurisdiction or in any circumstance in which such offer or solicitation is
unlawful or not authorised. This press release is issued by BNY Mellon Asset
Management (US & Canada) and BNY Mellon Asset Management International Limited
(ex-US/Canada) to members of the financial press and media and the information
contained herein should not be construed as investment advice. Past
performance is not a guide to future performance. Registered office of BNY
Mellon Asset Management International: The Bank of New York Mellon Centre, 160
Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4V 4LA. Registered in England no. 1118580.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. A BNY Mellon
Company(SM)

SOURCE BNY Mellon

Vee Montebello, +44-20-7163-6246, vee.montebello@bnymellon.com, or Patrice
Kozlowski, +1-212-922-6030, patrice.kozlowski@bnymellon.com, or Sarah
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