China is looking to open its doors to foreign pension funds, giving them room to invest in Chinese capital markets in the future. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, notes that the new channel would be separate from the existing Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program.
Investors remain conservative for the short term but expect improved returns over the next decade, according to a Franklin Templeton global investor sentiment survey conducted earlier this year, which polled more than 20,000 investors in 19 countries.
Four years after the credit crisis, Europe still remains in fiscal disrepair. “Europe is now the poster child for risk,” said Derek Burleton, vice-president and deputy chief economist with TD Economics, speaking yesterday at TD Asset Management’s Sharing of Knowledge Learning Series in Toronto.
The dream of a closely integrated European economy appears to be fading. Over the weekend, voters in France and Greece booted out the leaders who have struggled to contain the European sovereign debt crisis and end the Eurozone recession.
There’s nary a bull or bear to be seen on Bay Street these days. That’s because we’re in a sideways market. That was the message Kim Shannon, president and chief investment officer of Sionna Investment Managers, presented at the firm’s Financial Market Review in Toronto yesterday.
Nearly two centuries ago, China was the largest economy in the world, accounting for a third of global output. Today, the world’s oldest civilization, and the fastest growing economy, seems determined to regain its lost glory and assert its economic supremacy on world stage.
The developed world’s current woes—anaemic economic recovery, deleveraging of private sectors and shrinking balance sheets of the financial sector—will likely continue for another decade. At the same time, the dynamic emerging world will create a desirable background story.
The economy is showing signs of improvement and it looks like business optimism among investment managers is on the rise along with it, according to a poll released last week by SEI.
Institutional investment managers are becoming increasingly positive on the U.S. economy, but still remain concerned about macro risks such as the European debt crisis, according to a survey by Northern Trust.
The 2011 Investment Innovation Conference concluded with a panel discussion on yet another potential risk to pension liabilities: inflation.