With the Trump administration continuing to take aim at its major trading partners, institutional money managers are warning investors to anticipate more volatility in equity markets. “A full-blown trade war would be a major reversal of the trend toward globalization that has underpinned markets for decades and could have severe consequences for corporate profits, given the importance […]
The global economy is expected to grow around 3.2 per cent in 2018, in line with last year, but there will be many challenges throughout the remainder of the year, according to AllianceBernstein’s mid-year outlook. The firm noted that while signs point to increasing inflation over the long term, it doesn’t expect to see an exaggerated level […]
Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group Ltd. is forming Vergent Asset Management, an investment manager that will focus on frontier and emerging markets. Founded by managing partners Ali Al Nasser and Nemer Bechara, the investment team will be led by Nasser, who has 15 years of experience managing institutional capital across frontier markets. “We are pleased to […]
Tensions between China and the United States are heating up as the Trump administration proposed a 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods last week. The U.S. is hitting China where it hurts, according to an economic insight report from Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets Inc., and Katherine […]
Some of the world’s major indexes are bringing Saudi Arabia’s public equities into the mix, a move that could alter the landscape for emerging market investments. As of June 2019, MSCI Inc. will include its Saudi Arabia index in the MSCI emerging markets index. The 32 securities from the country will make up a weight of approximately 2.6 per […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans posted a higher median solvency ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2018 in comparison to earlier in the year, according to new data from Aon. The median solvency ratio reached 100.2 per cent, which was up from 98.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year. […]
The recent summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un has raised mixed reactions from the investment world. “No doubt, you’ve heard the criticisms of the outcome [of the summit], that the agreements signed by President Trump and Kim Jong Un are too vague, that no new commitments came […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is allocating $175 million to aquire a 20 per cent stake in a partnership intending to invest in logistics and industrial assets in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Totalling $880 million, the newly formed Goodman Brazil Logistics Partnership includes investments from global investment manager APG Asset Management, Australian superannuation fund First State […]
Globally, more than 70 per cent of public institutional investors have increased their allocations to real assets over the past three years, according to a new survey by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. The survey, which interviewed public pension and sovereign funds with almost $4.6 trillion in […]
Applying environmental, social and governance filters when investing in emerging markets isn’t easy given challenges such as a lack of company transparency, varying governance structures and the availability of clear and comparable data. But that doesn’t stop Sébastien Thevoux-Chabuel, an analyst and portfolio manager at Paris-based Comgest and a speaker at the 2018 Responsible Investment Association […]