LONDON - Never mind Britain's general election and January 2020 Brexit deadline -- there is a fog over UK assets that won't lift any time soon, some of the world's biggest money managers said.

Social unrest worldwide is alarming some global investors, who say protests from Hong Kong and Lebanon to Chile are forcing them to be more cautious even though the impact on financial markets has been spotty so far.

The outlook for the U.S. economy has brightened in recent weeks thanks to signs of progress on U.S.-China trade deal, giving big asset managers at this week's Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit a fresh sense of confidence that recession will not come knocking for a year or longer.

Forget FANG: Better opportunities in stocks lie among undervalued telecom and healthcare shares, according to the manager of Ariel Investments' global equity strategies.

Trade wars and softer growth are unlikely to dissuade global investors from diving into the world's second-largest economy as they seek better returns, participants in the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit said this week.

Chinese internet stocks, housing-related debt, and leasing older planes while the Boeing 737 MAX remains grounded are among the top bets for the coming year by speakers at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit in New York this week.

World markets could be approaching a tipping point in 2020 as funding costs start to rise, making bonds a riskier investment and some credit sectors, such as U.S. shale oil, particularly fragile, according to asset manager Carmignac.

The pool of negative-yielding euro zone bonds is draining at last as extreme economic pessimism gripping markets abates, but sub-zero borrowing costs are expected to remain a persistent feature of the year ahead.

Don't expect negative interest rates to be the next U.S. import from Europe or Japan, as those two economies are providing a real-time cautionary tale of the pitfalls of central bank stimulus efforts gone awry.

Fidelity International sees further gains in Japanese stocks next year and has started to invest in some value shares selectively, such as some automakers, the asset manager's Tokyo-based investment chief Takashi Maruyama told Reuters.