Alternatives – Page 37
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White papersInvesting for Impact: Our Take
In early 2019, Stephanie Braming, CFA, partner, global head of William Blair Investment Management, participated in The Economist’s Investing for Impact conference in New York City. We later sat down with her to discuss sustainability, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and the changing demands of the industry.
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White papersAmplified: the social and economic story of Wellington Place
Intrinsic to our ability to generate positive impacts through RPI is the concept of meaningful place-making: urban places where people want to work and live, in which they take great civic pride, and which they want to support through social, economic, leisure and community-based activities.
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White papers
Gold/Silver Options Skews: Upside Risk Ahead?
U.S. monetary policy exerts a strong influence on the skewness of currency, gold and silver options. In a normal monetary environment where short-term interest rates are well above zero, investors tend to be more concerned about gold and silver prices rising abruptly than falling.
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White papersAdopting An LDI Approach Throughout The Investment Value Chain
The insurance business model is fundamentally based on underwriting and managing risks: insurance companies are contractually bound to meet specific obligations and as such structurally driven by liabilities.
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White papersWho Will Lead The World Economy?
When we talk about leadership, we also talk about rivalry… and 2018 was undoubtedly a particularly emblematic year of rivalry, especially between the United States and China, and to some extent, between the United States and Europe.
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White papers
Energy Options Skews: Beyond Supply Shocks
The U.S. shale oil revolution has given out-of-the-money put options a persistently negative skew over the past decade, overshadowing likely supply woes.
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White papersEmerging Market Green Bonds - Report 2018
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urged the world to intensify its efforts to combat climate change by meeting the goal of the 2016 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
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White papers
The Short and Long of Oil
Short-term forces centered on supply constraints are driving the oil market higher but increasing fuel efficiency could temper prices over the long term.
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White papersImpact Report, Q1 2019
Plastic is a versatile, ubiquitous material in today’s fast-moving economy. But it is also one (big) example of the challenges we face when trying to transition to a circular economy.
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White papers
Climate-Proofing an Equity Portfolio
From rising sea levels to catastrophic weather events, investors can’t afford to ignore the risks of climate change. Since many companies would be vulnerable if current climate forecasts materialize, asset managers may want to consider climate change in their equity research process and engage management teams on the subject.
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White papers
Fed's Five Critical Issues
The Fed is facing five issues that could play a key role in its forward guidance on monetary policy, chief among them being the trade war and the economy.
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White papersEconomic Modeling Of Climate Risks
Climate change is a subject that has been largely addressed from both macroeconomic and energetic standpoints. Integration of climate variables and natural capital into the traditional economic framework can appear conflicting with the notion of infinitely growing economies exploiting finite resources, which questions the sustainability of neoclassic economic growth models.
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White papers
Treasury Options Skews: Investment Signals or Noise?
Nearly all options markets exhibit some kind of natural skewness. For example, out-of-the-money (OTM) put options on equity index futures are typically cost more than OTM call options as investors typically fear a sudden fall in stock prices more than a sudden rise and, hence, are willing to pay more for protection to the downside than upside.
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White papers
Portfolios and Investing: If/When “Winter” is Coming?
Did the Fed over-tighten monetary policy with its nine rate hikes, paving the way for an investment ‘winter’ in equities and bond markets?
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White papersRedefining Bank of America: an era of responsible growth
Bank of America has slashed costs and tightened risk controls in recent years as it moves on from its crisis-era legacies. In this case study, we examine the bank’s conservative approach and our decade-long engagement with the company.
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White papersOur Journey to a Sustainable Future
As investors and advisors who focus on our clients’ long-term success, sustainability is central to how we assess the risks and opportunities facing our clients.
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White papers
Grain, Oilseed Prices Dance to a new Global Tune
As global crop production diversifies geographically, prices for corn, soybean and wheat are becoming more sensitive to currencies like the ruble and real.
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White papersAdvancing the human capital agenda
For too long, a company’s success has been measured purely by its financial performance. But increasingly, in a social-media world, the success of a business is aligned to the satisfaction of employees. With fewer rights granted to employees in the US than other developed nations, we explain why we are starting a dialogue on the issue of human capital.
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White papersResponsible Returns: Better Stocks for a Better World
Many equity investors want to help create social benefits while generating strong returns. Achieving these twin goals requires a coherent investment approach. In this paper, we outline a process designed to effectively integrate environmental, social and governance factors in a sustainable equity strategy. Using stock examples, we demonstrate how to identify companies that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and offer sources of long-term return potential.
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White papersInsurers Need High-Tech Solutions in a Low-Liquidity World
Liquidity has become a precious commodity in fixed-income markets since the global financial crisis. Post-crisis regulations have made broker-dealers reluctant to warehouse large risks on their books, which in turn has made it more difficult for insurers and other institutional investors to trade large blocks of bonds quickly and efficiently.
