While there’s still a period of uncertainty ahead, the deployment of coronavirus vaccines is already having a positive effect on markets, according to a webinar hosted by FTSE Russell on Wednesday. In November, the global and U.S. equities markets saw double-digit returns following vaccine announcements by pharmaceutical firms Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca, said […]
Now is the time for institutional investors to buy value, small cap and cyclical stocks and hold steady while the economy builds back, says Bill Callahan, an investment strategist at Schroders. Indeed, energy and financial sector stocks saw gains Monday as investors are rotating from growth and large cap stocks after Moderna Inc. released data […]
Whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump ultimately wins the White House, the stock market is already a clear winner this week. While there were fears that a longer than usual wait to determine the winner of the U.S. presidential race would lead to wild market volatility, that didn’t come to pass. But signs were there over the […]
Canada’s retirement income system scored ninth place for the second year in a row, securing a “B” rating in spite of uncertainty in the markets as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The annual global pension index by Mercer and the CFA Institute noted the pandemic’s effects on the global pension fund markets aren’t only widespread […]
Back in December 2018, I wrote an article asking whether it was a good time for pension plan sponsors to revisit value investing. At that time, public equity markets were having a difficult quarter and traditional value strategies didn’t perform as well as expected, failing to provide the much-touted protection in down equity markets. Flash forward to […]
Since the mid-1970s, gold prices have increased in periods when investors were concerned about future inflation. Currently, gold prices are near highs comparable to January 1980, when concerns about stagflation were prevalent, and to August 2011, during widespread concerns about the impacts of quantitative easing. A new paper by Claude Erb, a retired managing director […]
A majority (79 per cent) of institutional investors see a global economic slowdown as the top threat to their portfolios in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Schroders. Prompted by coronavirus-related concerns, it’s a big jump from the 49 per cent of respondents that said the same in 2019. Those concerns are also […]
Historically, many institutional investors have been wary of emerging markets despite their growing role in the global economy, but the tide may be shifting, according to new research by Vontobel Asset Management. “In many cases, [institutional investors and discretionary wealth managers’] allocations to emerging market assets have stalled in single figures as a percentage of […]
While massive monetary policy response didn’t drive inflation following the 2008/09 financial crisis, institutional investors are mulling over whether things may be different this time. The global economy has rarely seen such a swift willingness to engage with economic calamity on both monetary and fiscal levels, says Erik Weisman, chief economist and fixed income portfolio manager at MFS […]
While rising government deficits and debt are concerning for many bond owners, they should actually be more concerned that deficits aren’t big enough, said David Bezic, an independent economic consultant, during a session at Benefits Canada and the Canadian Investment Review’s 2020 Plan Sponsor Week in mid-August. Many of the concerns around debt and deficits are founded on […]