All Global articles – Page 106
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White papersWeekly investment update – 10 June 2020
Hot spots in Latin America, India and the Middle East / Brazil charts its own course / will the US see a second wave / caution: US jobs data / more stimulus from the ECB and a German package
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White papersDoes the coronavirus mean the end of the fast fashion trend?
With high street fashion stores closed due to the global pandemic and unsold stock piling up in warehouses, “fast fashion” is under pressure as never before. Does lockdown offer a chance to rethink this unsustainable business model, which has high environmental and social costs?
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White papersDealing with our plastics waste
We have a plastic problem. On a trip to visit my family in South Africa at Christmas, what struck me was that even on the most remote and protected marine coastline my children and I managed to fill bags with plastic straws and other plastic debris. And the stats confirm we have a problem. Currently, only 14% of our annual plastic packaging produced is recycled, while only 2% is reused for the same or similar products. Instead, most of our plastic waste ends up in landfill or is leaked into our environment (around 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans globally every year).
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White papersThe EM Default Picture: More Nuanced Than Headlines Imply
The coronavirus pandemic is creating short-term and long-term challenges for emerging markets (EMs). But not all sovereign and corporate issuers can be painted with the same broad brush, and placing too much weight on overly dire forecasts may result in missed opportunities.
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White papersPrivate Equity’s Return Persistence Through Downturns
Although downturns are all uniquely challenging, there are historical patterns to consider as we try to understand the likely impact of COVID-19 on our existing private equity portfolio.
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White papersA Very Bond-Friendly Crisis
We believe the COVID-19 crisis and the response from governments and central banks creates an unusually favorable macro environment for credit.
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White papersWorld Environment Day – The importance of and concerns over biodiversity
The United Nations’ World Environment Day on 5 June focuses on biodiversity and the concern about its integrity and its importance for global communities and life on Earth generally as well as markets and economies.
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Asset Manager NewsFederated Hermes marks World Environment Day
Over the past year, there has been a notable shift in awareness of two environmental challenges: the burgeoning climate emergency, and our troubled relationship with nature and biodiversity. The wide-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to prepare and protect against future global threats, and it is imperative that policymakers, companies and individuals take heed and come together to tackle both the climate crisis and our exploitation of the critical ecosystem ‘services’ we rely so heavily on.
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White papersWeekly investment update – 3 June 2020
Easing the curbs in Europe; hotspot now Latin America / South Korea: an uptick in cases after lockdown / Europe’s answer to the blow / expect more stimulus and central bank pump priming
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White papersSecuritised credit: Where we’re going, there are no roads (part two)
Focusing on fundamentals, structure and valuation should help investors to navigate a future for which there is no precedent.
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White papersMulti Asset: a solid total portfolio approach for a complex world
An increasing number of institutional investors have adopted a total portfolio approach (TPA) as a response to the weaknesses of more traditional strategic asset allocation (SAA)-based methodologies. We believe the current crisis will reinforce this trend, as it is probably marking a paradigm shift in financial markets. This shift could be as important as the change in US monetary policy brought in by Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker at the beginning of the 1980s, which led to a long period of disinflation, lower interest rates and high asset returns.
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White papersThe day after #5 - New Frontiers for Central Banks
Central Banks (CBs) are by nature more flexible than governments. Thus, they have been the most proactive in this crisis, reintroducing large-scale asset-purchase programmes financed by money creation (QE policies). With this pandemic, a spectacular change in economic policy has taken place in just a few months: fiscal and monetary policies have become intertwined, and this is probably not reversible. While governments have become the buyers of last resort, CBs are playing their role as lenders of last resort. How far can they go? We argue here that CBs are still far from being out of ammunition. Financial repression and fiscal dominance are here to stay. CBs will maintain low bond yields for an extended period of time to alleviate the burden on the most leveraged agents.
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White papers“The World’s Factory” Reopens
Just as Chinese manufacturers are coming back online, the rest of the global economy is still struggling to contain the outbreak. With overseas demand for Chinese manufactured goods weakening, where does demand come from? How might this affect China’s economy?
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White papersA New Cold War?
U.S.-China relations have been tested over the course of the pandemic. There are rising concerns that a potential decoupling of the two countries could usher in a new cold war, which may bring negative impacts to the overall global economy. How might this affect China?
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White papersSDG Engagement Equity commentary: Huhtamaki
The SDG Engagement Equity strategy focuses on attractive companies with the potential – through engagement aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – to generate outcomes that benefit people, the planet and investors. Here we demonstrate how we are engaging with current holding Huhtamaki to create positive impacts on society.
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White papersMarket weekly – Do you have the equity protection you need? (podcast)
Equity bull markets run out of steam eventually, plunging investors into periods of volatility. The end of the rally that ran from 2009 to 2019 is no exception. Institutional investors are now negotiating choppy waters with instable markets, a health crisis and a global recession. They face the challenge of investing in equities to achieve their return objectives while respecting risk constraints and managing downside risk from the bouts of volatility that regularly affect markets.
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White papersCobalt mining in the DRC – reflections from the ground
Dangerous working conditions and human rights violations are among the risks faced by cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Late last year, engager Marcus Wilert joined an OECD delegation to the DRC to see the conditions first-hand. Here he reflects on some of the challenges.
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White papersAssessing Climate Risk in Portfolios: Expert Roundtable
With climate change, portfolio managers face a new type of variable with diverse effects on economies, industries and companies. AB investors and experts from Columbia University and Willis Towers Watson weigh in on how to address climate change in the investment process.
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White papersScience and Investing: Addressing the Climate Imperative
Tackling climate change will require enormous amounts of capital—invested smartly. Climate scientists and investors can learn from each other, an idea driving collaboration among Columbia University climate experts and AB investment professionals.
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White papersWhy Investors Need to Calibrate Climate Risk Now
The global climate is enormously complex, challenging investors to determine ground-level impacts on individual issuers. With climate change likely to accelerate, it’s time to ramp up analysis now—and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
