News & Events
105 news articles are available
27/01/2021
Global Investment Views - February 2021
Markets closed 2020 on strong footing and the recent Democratic sweep in the US makes a greater fiscal push more likely, leading us to lift our 2021 GDP growth forecast for the US to 5.2-5.7%, 1% above previous estimates. This marks a great divergence between the US and the rest of DM, where we have been lowering our forecasts.
26/01/2021
The Market Measure of Carbon Risk and its impact on the Minimum Variance Portfolio
Like ESG investing, climate change is an important concern for asset managers and owners, and a new challenge for portfolio construction. Until now, investors have mainly measured carbon risk using fundamental approaches, such as with carbon intensity metrics. Nevertheless, it has not been proven that asset prices are directly impacted by these fundamental-based measures. In this paper, we focus on another approach, which consists in measuring the sensitivity of stock prices with respect to a carbon risk factor. In our opinion, carbon betas are market-based measures that are complementary to carbon intensities or fundamental-based measures when managing investment portfolios, because carbon betas may be viewed as an extension or forward-looking measure of the current carbon footprint. In particular, we show how this new metric can be used to build minimum variance strategies and how they impact their portfolio construction.
18/01/2021
Research / Market
Italy: ECB's umbrella to protect bond market, despite uncertain political situation
Political situation: On 13 January, Italia Viva – a minor coalition partner led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi – pulled out of the ruling coalition, leaving the government short of a majority in the Senate. However, we believe that snap elections are unlikely for now. In our view, the most likely scenarios are: Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte could seek to win a confidence vote, with support from parties both inside and outside the ruling majority and also unaffiliated lawmakers (Gruppo Misto); Conte could step down, triggering a new round of talks that could eventually lead to a new administration, headed by Conte himself or another Prime Minister, with support from the same alliance; or a caretaker administration could be appointed to manage the government until the next election.
13/01/2021
Research / Market
Responsible Investing and Stock Allocation
We analyze the portfolio choices of approximately 913,000 active participants in employee saving plans in France. Looking at the cross-section of equity exposure, we find that the inclusion of responsible equity options in the menu of available funds is associated with a 2.1% higher equity allocation by plan participants.
13/01/2021
Research / Market
European insurers: the case for going global in the credit allocation
In the hunt for yield, some years ago European investors started to allocate part of their credit exposure to dollar assets. However, many then put a stop to this diversification due to high hedging costs. In the context of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Fed cut rates to post-Lehman lows. Consequently, euro and dollar interest rates converged significantly, reducing hedging costs and making a case for broadening the investment universe from a European to a global base more attractive.
11/01/2021
Research / Market
Cross Asset Investment Strategy - January 2021
Find the latest edition of the monthly publication of our Research Team.
11/01/2021
ECB QE Monitor - January 2021
The Eurosystem started its QE in March 2015.
08/01/2021
Research / Market
Biden and Democrats take control despite Trump protesters
Georgia runoffs results: The 2020 US general elections ended on 6 January 2021 with a Democratic sweep of two critical Georgia Senate seats, giving Democrats a slim majority and control of government until at least the next round of Congressional elections in two years. The stunning developments on Capitol Hill will not change the significance of the Georgia election, which will have far-reaching implications for Biden’s policy agenda and financial markets.
06/01/2021
A thin and last-minute Brexit deal should give temporary relief to UK assets
The deal: the core of the deal is a zero-tariff/zero-quota free trade agreement for goods, but trade will be affected by new non-tariff barriers such as customs checks and compliance procedures. The deal is lighter concerning trade in services, and in most services sectors providers will need to seek approval on a case-by-case basis with national authorities.