Investors can maintain a broadly optimistic outlook for 2022, but in its Market Outlook report, ANZ warns that further double-digit returns in equity, as was seen in 2021, would be unlikely. “Rather, 2022 commences with a mild overweight to risk assets based on cautious optimism and a belief that, despite more moderate returns, equities should continue to outperform bonds and cash — albeit against a backdrop of heightened volatility,” ANZ Head of Investment Strategy Lakshman Anantakrishnan said. During a year of uncertainty and lockdowns, the global equity markets jumped 20.7 percent in 2021, following a 14 percent lift the previous year, according to MSCI World Index. “These gains were supported by incredibly strong earnings growth and the continuation of unconventional monetary policy and fiscal tools usually reserved for wartime,” Anantakrishnan said. Despite the overall optimistic outlook for 2022, share markets around the world have tumbled since the start of the …