Latest White Papers – Page 306
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White papersThe (new) working world: promoting workplace well-being
This is the third part of a four-part series on SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth. In our first two instalments, we demonstrated how we are engaging with companies on their hiring practices and efforts in the shift towards fairer pay outcomes. Today, we progress to the issue of employee benefits.
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White papersSustainable agriculture: the economics of healthy soil
Where is modern industrial agriculture taking us? How can farmers respond? And what does all this mean for the financial performance of companies operating in the food and agricultural sector?
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White papersRich in opportunity
Events in emerging markets over the last couple of years have borne out our conviction that, over the long term, growth stocks in these markets will outperform value.
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White papersA supportive environment for investment grade credit
The macro environment we face is one of low economic growth, low inflation, and loose monetary policy. That can be considered something of a sweet spot for investment grade credit. Corporate earnings are strong enough for the moderate leverage in the asset class, and investors’ search for high-quality yield supports bond prices.
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White papersEmerging market debt rally set to moderate
Emerging market (EM) debt started 2019 at attractive valuations. This followed a nine-month slide as the US Federal Reserve moved to normalise monetary policy and raise interest rates, which naturally strengthened the dollar and increased EMs’ funding costs.
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White papersBuilding on 2019’s green bond resurgence
In almost whatever country you care to mention, climate change and social inequality are exploding into the public consciousness. Extinction Rebellion in the UK or the Gilets Jaune in Paris are just two of the more high-profile signs. Yet in the financial markets, too, green, social and sustainability bonds are growing in number and sophistication.
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White papersQuality is key in a slow economy
The outlook for Europe’s high yield market was getting darker as we moved into 2019. Third quarter earnings reports at the end of 2018 had mostly missed expectations, industrial activity was slowing and world markets had just suffered a sharp sell-off. Like most others, we were expecting returns for 2019 to be only moderately positive or even flat.
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White papersIdentifying 2020’s successful challengers
Europe is still growing, if slower than expected. And so, looking ahead, there are exciting opportunities – for example in challenger brands or new business models disrupting the old guard.
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White papersImproving outlook for risk assets
The downturn in industrial output is bottoming out and corporate earnings – powered by rate cuts in the US and Europe – are about to accelerate.
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White papersManaging the carbon footpath
Whether transport, energy or utilities, Europe’s infrastructure is set to play an essential part in the transition to a greener environment and better society. Just as new “green” infrastructure is being built, so too old “dirty” infrastructure providing essential services must be decarbonised.
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White papersDemand grows for high-quality ESG analytics
After the buzz comes the reality. As we look towards 2020, the key responsible investment (RI) themes are already evident. Technology, regulatory changes, enhanced analytics, active use of voting rights and thematic issues (eg, climate change or the sustainable development goals) are key elements of this and are set to be the focus in the RI field.
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White papersLooking through the Brexit clouds
Looking ahead to 2020, we are full of hope for a conclusion to Brexit. As investors, our approach to property investment remains constant, mitigating specific risk to suit the economic environment. However, Brexit is clouding the investment landscape and has created a stasis across most home-grown markets
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White papersAdapting to a low-yield, high-regulation environment
Global insurance markets are a tale of two halves. The European and US markets are mature, with assets under management likely to remain flat for the foreseeable future. Asia is different: the market is boasting strong, sometimes double-digit growth. Insurance companies are injecting a lot of the expertise from their European or US businesses into growth areas, thus achieving higher valuation multiples, because a fast-growing business is more attractive from an M&A point of view.
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White papersImpact investing in public fixed income markets
Across Nuveen, our commitment to responsible investing (RI) is based on three core principles:(1) integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our investment processes and decision-making; (2) proactive engagement with issuers and other industry stakeholders on a variety of ESG-related topics; and(3) impact, the ability of our investment practices to deliver competitive financial performance and document the intended environmental and social outcomes.
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White papersGlobal Investment Views - January 2020
As we approach the year-end, a look back over the past 12 months reminds us how unconventional this year of records has been. On the upside, equities rallied to historical highs in December and fixed income returns were also strong as bond yields fell. The combination of these trends enabled a traditional 50 bond/50 equity balanced portfolio for European to investors generate 15.5%1, the best annual performance in the last two decades.
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White papersTrade war clouds the outlook
The effects of the US’s multiple confrontations with allies and adversaries over its terms of trade with the rest of the world have overshadowed commodity markets throughout 2019. At the beginning of this year we anticipated relatively swift progress towards a trade deal between the US and China. But as the year progressed it became clear that this confrontation would last much longer than we had initially expected. We now believe it will continue beyond the US presidential election late next year, irrespective of which candidate wins.
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White papersFixed Expense Investing
Low and even negative yields have turned some fixed income investing into “fixed expense” investing—but there are still good reasons to hold negative-yielding bonds.
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White papersOutlook 2020: The Beauty of Symmetry
− Global growth is finding its feet, but a powerful upswing is not around the corner: risks such a Hard Brexit (still!) and the US elections are impediments to a meaningful capex recovery.
− 2019 was in many ways similar to 2016; but 2020 will not be a repeat of 2017. We expect equity gains to continue, but in a far more muted fashion.
− Central banks engineered a stunning risk rally in 2019; they will be less active in 2020. But nascent efforts to make inflation targets more symmetrical will remain a risk-friendly force. -
White papersGovernment Shutdown Bites the Dust
Boeing may have an impact on U.S. economic data, the U.K. Tories are back and stronger than ever, and the government shutdown is averted, for now.
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White papersReal Estate Outlook Asia Pacific – Edition 4, 2019
Rise in yield spreads to spur investment interest
