When the world’s largest mining company declares “we recognise global climate change science, as laid out by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” 1, it becomes hard to argue that climate change has not reached mainstream science. This
Vektis publiceert elk jaar de jaarcijfers over de zorgverzekeraars en de zorgfinanciering. We kijken daarbij naar de ontwikkeling van het aantal zorgverzekeraars. Ook geven we inzicht in het financiële resultaat van de zorgverzekeraars in 2016, 2017 en 2018. Daarbij maken
Point of View As evidenced by their high fees, stock pickers still are coveted in investing. Conventional wisdom attributes much of alpha to the skill of investment managers finding the best businesses at the right price. However, the mysteries of
Investing to protect the planet's natural resources requires a deep understanding of industry's ecological footprint. Our environmental strategy has a model for that.
Can environmental, social and governance concerns (ESG) ft within a factor-based portfolio? In this article, we tackle two issues: the inconsistency in methodologies for ESG scoring, and ways to integrate ESG considerations into factor portfolios. As growing numbers of investors
By protecting intellectual property rights, patents act as a safeguard for the economic interests of inventors and give them incentive to innovate. The innovations that they were designed to protect are a driving force of technological and social change. From
Emerging markets are a lot less emerging than they used to be. A more integrated global economy means that the world has become smaller. Investors and managers no longer suffer from limited visibility into markets, and the transparency around the
Liquid alternatives (typically regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940) and hedge funds (often lightly regulated legal structures) are public and private vehicles that investors use to access a variety of alternative investment strategies. To compare and contrast them,
Megatrends A confluence of global megatrends is prompting structural shifts in many industries and changing the drivers of corporate earnings. Most major economies are undergoing powerful shifts in their demographic profiles, while resource scarcity and climate change are coming under
Buy-to-let is, in de omvang waarin het zich de afgelopen jaren in Nederland heeft voorgedaan, een nieuw verschijnsel. Dat particuliere beleggers op grote schaal koopwoningen kopen om die woningen vervolgens te verhuren, laat zien dat de verhoudingen op de woningmarkt
Working Paper Do universal owners vote to curb negative corporate externalities? An empirical analysis of shareholder meetings This paper tests whether very diversified and patient investors, also known as universal owners, tend to vote in favor of shareholder resolutions instructing
Stablecoins claim to stabilise the value of major currencies in the volatile crypto-asset market. This paper describes the often complex functioning of different types of stablecoins and proposes a taxonomy of stablecoin initiatives. To this end it relies on a
Preferred Sectors: Health Care, Technology and Consumer
Which weapon will be drawn next? The trade dispute continues to dominate financial market activity. Which weapon will be drawn next? Will China also raise tariffs in retaliation after the recent escalation by the US, or perhaps even block exports
With the further escalation of the trade war between the US and China in August and a British government that has set its course for a hard Brexit, market concerns have generally increased. So far, the EURUSD has reacted relatively
De eerste PMI voor de eurozone is in augustus onverwacht geklommen tot 51,8 (vs.een consensus van 51,2). Die stijging was te danken aan de solide groei van de dienstensectoren een voorzichtige stabilisatie van de krimp van de industrie Door de
With the dollar remaining strong, Chris discusses whether it makes sense to hedge currencies for international investing. The currency conundrum continues. With the dollar maintaining its strength versus other currencies, the question of whether to hedge that currency effect remains
T. Rowe Price Insights Central bank support should not shift investor focus away from fundamentals. KEY INSIGHTS ■ Despite growth concerns, we believe emerging markets (EM) can perform well as they form an important source of real income in a
Beyond Bulls & Bears
In some parts of the world, bonds are yielding less than zero. Karen explains how that can happen, what it means for your portfolio and moves to consider. Global interest rates have seesawed in 2019. At the start of the
Perspectives The biggest market drivers remain trade and central banks. The dichotomy we have been witnessing with both equities and bonds rallying continues, as expectations for easing and growth concerns support fixed income, while supportive central banks and a welcome
“Quality” stocks are said to offer a measure of portfolio stability ― a trait that becomes more valuable when markets are volatile and/or the business cycle is growing older. Both are true today. Tony DeSpirito offers his take on investing
CIO Outlook A colleague has an old Barron’s cartoon hanging in his office showing two large people, both smoking and one holding a “mondo cola.” The caption reads, “This whole damn health-care system is a mess.” In “Mistakes Were Made
Strategist’s Corner In brief ■ Companies are pulling multiple non-core levers to maintain margins, but investors are becoming increasingly wary. ■ Avoiding companies with unsustainably high margins is key. ■ While the real economy is better positioned than in the
Volatility is likely path forward for high yield after strong advance in first half of 2019 Aided by expectations of monetary easing, the second quarter of 2019 saw high-yield corporate bonds on both sides of the Atlantic continue one of
In depth Companies issue both debt and equity to finance their operations, and their valuations should be linked to the enterprise value of the firm. However, due to investor segmentation, the capital market imposes little discipline in valuing the two
BlackRock’s Chief Investment Strategist for APAC Ben Powell shares how childhood curiosity led him to a career in finance, what he has learned from jiu-jitsu and more in the latest installment in our ongoing series of Q&As with BlackRock investment
In July 2019, Bitcoin fluctuated around its USD 10,000 resistance with altcoins lagging, as illustrated by both lower volumes on mid and small-cap altcoins and the Bitcoin dominance waiting at high historical levels. This possibly illustrates that in a period
Verlaging obligatiegewicht ten gunste van aandelen Sinds het oplaaien van de angst voor escalatie van de handelsvete tussen de VS en China hebben wereldwijd gespreide aandelen zo’n vijf procentpunt ingeleverd. Vooral de strijdlustige tweets van president Trump gingen ten koste
Background: how ASEAN youths assess technology and the future of work Each year, the World Economic Forum runs a survey of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) youths aged 15–35 years old. The goal is to understand the views, priorities
Market Outlook While markets were waiting for Fed Chair Powell’s speech on Friday, Donald Trump announced new tariffs which had a negative sentiment impact. The mood was already rather fragile before Friday, but CEE currencies were – mostly – more
SUMMER IS USUALLY A QUIET PERIOD FOR MARKETS, BUT 2019 HAS BEEN AN EXCEPTION; THE FEDERAL RESERVE (FED) CUT RATES, TRADE TENSIONS WITH CHINA ESCALATED, GLOBAL MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY CONTINUED TO DETERIORATE AND THE 2-YEAR/10-YEAR U.S. TREASURY CURVE INVERTED. Against this
Once a backwater of the bond world, emerging-market (EM) corporate debt has grown into a full-fledged asset class that investors can tap to diversify their EM allocation and boost their return potential.
Occasional Paper Series As a result of technological advancements, instant delivery of digital services has become the norm in today’s society. Yet, until recently, this trend did not extend to retail payment services, which normally took one or up to
Global economy: teetering on the edge – We are downgrading our forecasts for global growth as a consequence of the recent escalation of the trade wars between the US and China. We now expect 2.6% GDP growth this year and
Week Ahead A first estimate of inflation for the Eurozone in August will be released next week (30. August). Due to a significantly lower oil price compared to the second half of 2018 (e.g. – 10.3% y/y in July), inflation
Are passive index funds the lazy owners of companies, allowing unaccountable management to drain dynamism from the economy? Or, are they becoming too activist by venturing into controversial areas of public policy that are best handled by regulators and politicians?
The Russell US Indexes were created in 1984 by the Frank Russell Company (now part of FTSE Russell) with the goal of providing accurate representation of the investable US equity market. When initially introduced, the Russell indexes provided five years
Equity markets have now fully recovered lost ground after the U.S. stepped up tariffs on China imports in early May. Bullish sentiment has been fueled by expectations of a reboot of U.S.-China trade talks and central banks cuts. Earnings momentum
Below is an overview of the key macroeconomic developments we expect to help determine our overall risk budget and inform our bottom-up security selection process in the second half of 2019:
It gives me great pleasure to introduce our 7th Secular Outlook. With this publication, we aim to draw on past experiences to shed light on the future. Looking back, the period since the 2008 financial crisis has been unusually kind
World-changing technologies that are poised to rattle the status quo One day soon an emerging technology highlighted in this report will allow you to virtually teleport to a distant site and actually feel the handshakes and hugs of fellow cyber-travellers.
Through three industrial revolutions, technology has led to significant changes across economies, societies and businesses. Steam engines jump-started the transition of societies from agriculture to industrial production. The use of fossil fuels in engines and innovation in business models such
While record highs on the major equity indices make for good headlines, the year-to-date returns posted by several fixed income sectors are impressive in their own right. Fueled by the second quarter’s collapse in developed market rates, long U.S. corporates
In 2017, Hermes Investment Management published its first study on the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and corporate credit spreads1 . The research filled a void left by the dearth of external studies and tools to help
A sharp fall in Growth markets in May was bookended by much stronger returns in April and June, leading to an ultimately fruitful, albeit volatile, second quarter of 2019 for most assets. Within Growth assets, US equities were the strongest
Since the digital era, organizations have been looking for ways to improve their operating model through modernizing their technology infrastructure. Being able to simplify complex processes while enabling innovation is the driving motivation for tech modernization. Today, organizations are trying
An Asian central bank policy outlook There have been three easing cycles in the past 20 years: 1998-99 during the Asian financial crisis, Russian debt default and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM); 2000-04, in reaction to the bursting
Historically, this has often been the case. But this time may be different. By Kristina Hooper, Brian Levitt and Timothy Horsburgh The US Treasury yield curve, specifically the spread between the 10-year US Treasury rate and the 2-year US Treasury
So far this year, equity markets generally posted the sort of returns that would normally be unthinkable amid an earnings slowdown, an increasingly fragile economic cycle and a political environment that has become so risky that global corporate confidence levels
