Observations driving Verus outlook PE has pulled back to a significant degree this year. Through 1H2020, deal volume and value stood at roughly a quarter of 2019 tallies, representing a strong deceleration after back-to-back record-breaking years. The median PE deal
Building resilient portfolios for uncertain times Balancing protection and upside potential is a difficult exercise, but we hope investors will find some ideas and some inspiration on how to tackle it in this paper, whether it is through a dynamic
Summary of the ‘Drawdowns’ academic paper Sacking a fund manager is costly and complex. So, what type and size of drawdown should cause you to risk changing a fund manager? When evaluating managers or strategies, investors pay close attention to
Global gold ETFs: A popular gateway to the gold market Gold-backed exchange-traded funds and similar products (gold ETFs)1 have flourished since their introduction in 2003, attracting both institutional and retail investors across the globe.2 Recently, gold has become globally accepted
The PRI has identified The PRI Leaders’ Group 2019, which highlights asset owner leaders that have developed rigorous follow-up procedures to reduce reputational and management risk, and who have detailed policies for frequently monitoring managers’ performance through on-site interviews, calls
"Since 2000, portfolios made up of restricted stocks, with the exception of coal, have delivered better performance than the benchmark, suggesting that applying the restriction has probably hurt investment performance. However, it’s worth noting that the return gap has been
The incorporation of ESG factors within the investment process has evolved from a nice-to-have to a necessity. Client demand has grown strongly, with 68% of the PRI’s asset owner signatory base addressing ESG considerations in their requests for proposals (RFPs).1
"The size of pension funds compared to GDP varied widely at the end of 2019, ranging from 0.1% in Pakistan to 191.4% in the Netherlands. Assets in pension funds exceeded the size of the domestic economy in five countries: Australia
"Assets in retirement savings plans reached new heights, exceeding USD 50 trillion before the COVID-19 outbreak"
Fixed Income Quarterly Report – Q4 2020 A second wave of coronavirus infections is sweeping the globe, corporate defaults are on the rise and recovery rates are well below their historical average. Meanwhile, the outcome of one of the most
The Investment Clock: "Recovering: After a plunge into recession, economic data started a rapid pick up from March in China and May/June in Europe and the US as social distancing eased. Retail sales have recovered particularly fast in the US
"In the past 18 months the subject of Central Bank Digital Currency has accelerated dramatically from potential research areas, to key policy agenda. Unquestionably, this has been driven by developments in Facebook’s Libra where the spectre of the private sector
Earnings Insight During the month of October, analysts increased earnings estimates for companies in the S&P 500 for the fourth quarter. The Q4 bottom-up EPS estimate (which is an aggregation of the median EPS estimates for Q4 for all the
The crypto derivatives landscape has evolved tremendously over the last several years. Beginning with pioneers like Crypto Facilities, BitMEX, Deribit, BitVC (now HuobiDM), and OKEx, derivatives trading in crypto markets really took hold in 2017, dovetailing the entrance of traditional
Swiss Finance Institute – Research Paper Series N°20-63 Abstract We study how plan sponsors choose investment management firms from their opportunity set when delegating $1.6 trillion in assets between 2002 and 2017. Two factors play an influential role in choice:
Benchmark on Responsible Investment by Pension Funds in the Netherlands 2020 This year marks VBDO’s 25th anniversary. A silver jubilee gives us a reason to look back over what has been achieved. Back in 1995, the financial sector had very
Executive summary Investment is a fast-changing industry: 232 names in our 2009 list of 500 largest asset managers are not in our 2019 list. There seems to be a quickening of the pace of consolidation. Mandate and process trends have
Fund selector asset class research Key points – Dutch investors are very bullish towards plenty of asset classes this quarter. – At the top of the list are Asia ex Japan equities, infrastructure funds, multi-strat hedge funds, gold funds and
An EDHEC-Risk Institute Working Paper This paper employs a robust portfolio sorting procedure to factor size characteristics into returns. The US size anomaly boils then down to a pure seasonal effect, fully supporting the “tax-loss-selling” hypothesis. We build a long-short
September 2020 Bitcoin Volatility Report – Sept. kicked off with bitcoin’s annualized volatility touching a 5-week low of 38.8%, only to then rally above 50% on Sept. 3, bounce between 50% and 56%, and snap a 5-month downtrend by concluding
Gold’s intrinsic value has been recognised for millennia but its role on the global stage changed fundamentally following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In 1971, US President Nixon suspended the dollar’s convertibility into gold. By 1973, advanced countries
As we write, the world at large is picking its way carefully through the aftermath of COVID-19, a crisis borne of many mothers, but one which can unquestionably be traced back to environmental and social factors. Businesses are beginning to
A compilation of thought-provoking insights produced by Man Group during the month. It’s astounding what these google searches can tell us about trends. These examples represent some of the most common search terms during each period, and had an eerily
An upside-down market is a market in which good news functions as bad news and bad news functions as good news. The force that turns markets upside-down is policy. News, good or bad, triggers a countervailing policy response with effects
At Calvert, we have long considered corporate governance assessments an integral part of company research because they can be an indicator of how well a company identifies material environmental and social factors and manages associated …
Growth in energy markets slowed in 2019 in line with weaker economic growth and a partial unwinding of some of the one-off factors that boosted energy demand in 2018.This slowdown was particularly evident in the US, Russia and India, each
Especially as long-term investors, we need to understand the financial risks around climate change and the implications of that risk for investing. Speaking about climate change in the language of financial risk neutralizes concerns around social or moral agendas.
Society’s data usage has been growing exponentially for decades,1 but the lockdown measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have placed even greater emphasis on the importance of digital connectivity. Tim Perry looks at the investment opportunities and challenges associated with
Viewpoints from the Global Investment Committee While each election season is unique, this year’s is unprecedented. The global pandemic has been the dominant driver of the economy and financial markets, and will surely figure prominently in the election’s outcome. As
Interpretive Analysis and Insights During the last quarter of 2018, major U.S. indices plunged approximately 20% from their peaks of end of late August/early October. In 2019, they recovered and reached new highs. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial
The European real-estate debt market has changed dramatically since the Global Financial Crisis, with bank lending activity – constrained by regulatory capital and oversight – creating a structural opportunity for non-bank lenders to exploit. As such, we believe European commercial
An EDHEC-Risk Institute Working Paper As climate change and global warming are addressed by tougher regulation by governments (especially in the form of carbon pricing mechanisms), new emerging technologies, and shifts in consumer behaviors, global investors are increasingly concerned with
It is now a reality that long-term bond yields are at or near zero in the US and virtually everywhere. There are so many implications of this that it takes some time to recognize and absorb them all and then
This paper presents a simple holistic approach to build climate risk-resilient investment portfolios based on the three key objectives of the Paris Agreement: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, alignment of financial flows with a low-carbon, climate resilient pathway. We
August 2020 Bitcoin Volatility Report • A surge in volatility in late-July trickled into August and subsequently drove annualized volatility up to an intramonth high of 60% on August 25, in addition to a +53% jump MoM in volume traded.
As investors, equities represent a crucial driver of long-term capital appreciation. However, equity markets can go through periods of high volatility and not always deliver the expected positive returns. For investors seeking this equity exposure but looking for a …
The Federal Reserve's recent Jackson Hole Symposium has renewed attention on inflation in light of the unprecedented global fiscal and monetary policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic If inflation exceeds capital market expectations, risk assets could underperform. As such, investors
Alternatives AUM exceeds $10tn milestone amid challenging market conditions The alternatives industry has just set a new record: global assets under management (AUM) have surged to $10.31tn. We’re now well on our way to meeting Preqin’s 2018 forecast of $14tn
Family offices (FOs) around the world continue to be optimistic about investing in venture capital. This report examines how FOs are taking advantage of investment opportunities in venture. It explores …
Provide a macro overview of Family Offices and global trends within the industry Offer key learnings from selected best in class family offices
Gold Passes Two Important Sign-Posts The gold bull market passed two important sign-posts in July. The strength of the market is impressive as it blew through $1,800 and the all-time high of $1,921. These prices had been major technical resistance
“It’s an insurance policy in case inflation comes back again as it did in the 1970s. I would say that if that’s a sensible thing to do, then, certainly to have 1 to 2% of your assets in Bitcoin makes
COVID-19 maintains its grip on the global economy …
The Covid-19 crisis prompted huge monetary stimulus measures from the world’s central banks, and governments are still implementing major plans to help reignite economic growth. Gold prices rose further in …
Over the past year, diversification has faced two very different challenges. On the one hand, as stocks—and U.S. stocks in particular—continued to rally during 2019, we observed a growing undercurrent of …
Recovery paths and impact on performance The Investors have embraced gold in 2020 as a key portfolio hedging strategy. Looking ahead, expectations for a faster recovery (V-shaped) from COVID-19 are shifting towards slower recovery (U-shaped), or potential setbacks from additional
The European fund industry faced estimated net inflows in H1 2020. The overall fund flows for mutual funds in Europe amounted to estimated net inflows of €123.0 bn for H1 2020. • Money market funds (+€152.5 bn) were the best-selling
De omvang van publieke aandelenmarkten is in veel ontwikkelde economieën sinds de start van dit millennium gestagneerd of zelfs afgenomen. Zo is volgens gegevens van de Wereldbank (2020) het aantal beursgenoteerde bedrijven in de VS tussen 2000 en 2018 bijna
De coronacrisis stelt de financiële weerbaarheid van huishoudens op de proef. Hoewel de precieze reikwijdte, duur en diepte van deze lopende crisis op dit moment onduidelijk zijn, is het wel zeker dat veel huishoudens tijdens de zogeheten lockdown en de
Methodology –Asset Class Overview For each asset class we present an overview of some key data to provide better insights in the asset class. On the left we show information on the number of funds in the asset class, the
Can green and ethical investing help us build back better in a post-pandemic world? Find out in this @raconteur article written by @SustMeme.
It carries insights from a range of market perspectives and leading contributors with expertise in both sustainability and investment.
