All White papers articles – Page 300
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White papersMarket Commentary – Financial repression and the sovereign carry trade
Chinese data on Monday may vindicate hopes of a V-shape recovery. Yet we warn against extrapolating 1/ an early bounce driven by pent-up demand and 2/ Chinese trends to the broader economy. The ‘swoosh’ scenario for the global economy remains very credible.
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White papersReal estate outlook – Out of office
The COVID-19 outbreak has forced a revolution in office working in the past 10 weeks, with millions of employees working successfully from home across the world. This has led to competing claims about whether working from home will revolutionise the future organisation of work and change the nature of the office real estate business.
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White papersBeyond the box-ticking: what really makes a board function well?
At the end of April, EOS at Federated Hermes published a white paper ‘Guiding Principles for an Effective Board – Insights from Engagement’. These five principles focus on the human, relational and behavioural aspects of boards, rather than the usual standardised data sets, which don’t tell the full story.
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White papersWill Europe Waste The Crisis?
Investors should be rooting for EU leaders as they attempt reforms that do more than just ease the immediate pain.
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White papersQuarterly Economic Outlook: we’ve never had it so loose
The US and UK are already running highly negative interest rates, when QE is considered, according to a report by the International business of Federated Hermes. It says that true, QE-adjusted policy rates are now as low as -10% in the US, and -6% in the UK or around -12% and -8% in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.
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White papersCrisis and resilience – Navigating a sustainable recovery
When we emerge from the pandemic, an important issue will be whether the collaboration and focus can be maintained and harnessed to address the climate crisis or other global issues.
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White papersNo Liftoff on the Horizon
The Fed Funds rate is set to remain at its zero-lower bound for several years, while the BOE and BOJ assess current policy next week, and more trade deals appear on the horizon.
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White papersThe bright lights emerging in European infrastructure
We expect infrastructure investment to be a key tool in restarting European economies after Covid-19, especially as the under-investment in some key areas is clear.
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White papersPerspective: Real Estate
How long will the low-interest phase last, how stable are the markets and how predictable are the policymakers? These are the questions that we are asking ourselves, that the real es- tate sector is asking itself – but no one seems to have any clear answers. Any answer that can be given is merely an assessment of the current situation that tries to take into account the increasing complexity of the world around us. People then talk about how complexity might be reduced, how a risk can be made cal- culable, and how uncertainty can be made tangible, so to speak. Here, the word uncertain- ty is often used interchangeably with risk, and thus equated with it. This is wrong, as a brief excursion into the world of decision theory illustrates.
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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 papersPerspective: Renewable Energies
Greta Thunberg, #FridaysForFuture and climate protection currently receive much attention. Greta is cheered on, we point an accusing finger at others, and yet people still buy strawberries in winter. In the current debate on climate protection, two different yardsticks are used. We criticise other people’s behaviour, but have a blinkered view of our own behaviour, seeing only what we want to see.
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White papersCinderella science?
Why portfolio construction holds the key to resilient investment outcomes
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White papersHave traditional safe havens lost their edge?
COVID-19 has reminded investors of the importance of defensive positions within portfolios during times of stress. But are the ‘safe havens’ of the past still up to the task?
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White papersWhere to go in an income drought?
Income investors face multiple challenges – dividend cuts, historically low yields, rising corporate defaults, and an uncertain property market. Francois de Bruin goes in search of sustainable income sources.
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White papersECB QE Monitor - May 2020
Central Banks: interest rates near zero The Fed kept its interest rates unchanged. The ECB kept its interest rates unchanged. No movement on BoJ interest rates since 2016.
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White papersThe day after #6 - Inflation: persistent headwinds but a possible inflationary cocktail
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, all eyes have been on the unfolding health catastrophe and the consequences of confinement: economies halted, exploding rates of unemployment (in particular in the United States), and rising debt levels. In this extraordinary context, inflation is often overlooked. This is a dangerous mistake, in our view. For investors, now more than ever, it is crucial to keep a very close eye on this metric—in particular, since we may be at the beginning of a complete regime shift.
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White papersBiotechnology Innovation During COVID-19
Innovation has always been a key driver for the biotechnology industry, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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White papersResponsibility Report 2020
Welcome to our inaugural Responsibility Report – an annual publication that provides clear information about our responsible business practices, our approach to responsible investing and our firm-wide advocacy activities.
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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).
