All Global articles – Page 110
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Market Perspectives - Viral uncertainties March 2020
The Covid-19 virus is turning from a regional health crisis to a global issue; uncertainties about the global economic impact have been rising sharply. After weeks of resilience, equity markets have sold off in late February, catching up with the safe-haven rally in core bonds seen earlier.
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US Equity Valuations Rebooted by Coronavirus
After recent sharp declines, US stock valuations look more attractive, especially compared with bonds. While the current volatility is unsettling, heightened uncertainty over earnings because of the coronavirus crisis could create opportunities for long-term investors who distinguish between winners and losers from the shock.
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Coronavirus Emergency: Fed Cuts Rates, But Markets Expect More
In the first intra-meeting ease since the 2008 crisis, the Fed delivered a 50 basis-point rate cut. Market volatility and liquidity concerns have likely been the trigger for the emergency cut. The market reaction has been a sell-off in equities, while the 10-year Treasury yield touched new lows, as the Fed move is perceived as not being enough to offset recent deterioration in financial conditions due to the market reaction to the coronavirus outbreak. Markets still expect more.
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Global Investment Views - March 2020
The spread of Covid-19 outside China has rattled risk assets in the recent trading sessions. Investors triggered some profit taking in markets, which reached historical highs and even broke psychological thresholds in previous weeks. The atmosphere of fear has remained consistently high only in the so-called safe assets — the USD, UST and gold — signaling that investors have been looking for effective hedging strategies.
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SDG Engagement Equity: 2019 Annual Report
Launched in January 2018, the Hermes SDG Engagement Equity Fund has the dual purpose of delivering attractive returns and measurable real-world impact.
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An investor guide to spotting “greenwashers”
Increasing corporate action to address climate change was a major positive of 2019. But distinguishing real “low carbon leaders” from “greenwashers” takes skill.
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Blog: Measurement and reporting are critical to sustainable investing
One of the key challenges facing the sustainable investment industry is to be able to report reliably and meaningfully to investors on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of investment portfolios, explains Jane Ambachtsheer, global head of sustainability at BNP Paribas Asset Management, in this video.
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Pricing ESG risk in sovereign credit: an emerging divergence
In 2019, we partnered with research house Beyond Ratings to demonstrate a robust relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores and sovereign credit-default swap (CDS) spreads. In the second instalment of this two-part paper, we consider whether the results differ for developed and emerging markets.
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Coronavirus: A Moving Target
If you haven’t reduced risk, it’s probably not too late to do so; if you are already conservatively positioned, it may be too early to buy the dips.
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Grasping The Intangible - How Intangible Assets Reveal Latent Value
It has long been accepted practice to account for intangible assets (“intangibles”) when valuing companies. Over time, and given changes in the economy, this has increased in importance. But valuation methods vary and there are big differences in how investors approach the subject. There is also great debate on the adequacy of existing accounting methods for successfully valuing intangibles. Accounting standards developed during the industrial era were designed for companies primarily engaged in manufacturing.
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Global Sustainable Outcomes - News & Views Q4 2019
In 2015 the UN set 17 global sustainable development goals and 169 targets to encourage corporate and government action in areas of critical importance to humanity and the environment. These targets were all set for 2030, meaning this new decade is crucial in achieving our ambitions for a better planet for all.
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Disciplined approach pays off in exciting emerging markets
It’s been a relatively volatile 12 months, but the work we did in 2018 really paid off last year, and we are quietly confident about an asset class that suits our style of active management
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Weighing up potential market impacts from the coronavirus
As the virus outbreak spreads well beyond China, it is hard to forecast exactly what the economic impact will be, but it’s safe to say that consumption and supply will be significantly affected
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Disappearing Alpha & Hidden Beta—A Sleight of Hand
Comparing Option Strategy Indices and Hedge Fund Indices before and after the 2008 – 09 financial crisis reveals that what many investors thought was “alpha” was just an illusion.
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Coronavirus concerns spark market sell off
Public and market fears have converged with countries outside China anxious that they may be approaching the same point as China was at the end of December - the preliminary stages of a devastating epidemic.
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The cost of trying to time the market since 2001
When markets fall, the natural instinct is to sell. Our research highlights how costly it can be to miss the stock market’s best days.
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Flexible credit: the upside of downside protection
Flexibility always has a place, but its capacity to provide downside protection makes it particularly important given the advanced age of the credit cycle. In the fourth instalment of a five-part series, we explain why credit investors cannot afford to just rely on rates and diversification for protection. We also consider the robust suite of tools needed to preserve capital during market sell-offs and help protect our ability to take risk when opportunities are greatest.
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Global high yield outlook: Be confident, but not complacent
Last year was a strong year for global bond markets, which were supported by the accommodative stance of the main central banks and strong investor demand. US, European and EM high yield (HY) bonds all returned more than 14% swapped into US dollars. The performance was led by the higher-quality segments of the market, such as BB-rated bonds, as well as the strong performance of CCC bonds in Europe. This was due to the search for yield across credit products, helped by positive risk sentiment.
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Fixed-income investing in unprecedented times
In a live recording from our Fixed Income Forum 2020, we assess the macroeconomic and market drivers for this asset class – and conclude that we are in unchartered territory.
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Checking in on BBBs
Improved credit conditions are reflected in spreads, but volatility may create opportunities.