Shareholder environmental activism has been growing in popularity with institutional investors, but is it working? The New York City pension system implemented a boardroom accountability project in 2014, with the intent of improving the sustainability characteristics of its portfolio companies. And, according to a new paper, results show firms targeted by the boardroom accountability project’s […]
After a year of nirvana, investors may need to get ready for something a little more normal. Markets are coming off a fabulous 2019, where stocks and bonds around the world climbed in concert. But for the next year, and decade, in fact, Wall Street is telling investors to set their expectations considerably lower. It’s […]
In its November, semi-annual index review, MSCI Inc., implemented the third increase in a series of planned increases to China A shares within its emerging markets indexes. Within its China index specifically, MSCI will be adding 204 new constituents, mostly mid-cap companies. The inclusion factor of the existing shares will also be increased. China A […]
Indexes have been around for decades, but what does all of that accumulated data actually tell investors? The Russell 3000 index, which was created in 1984, captures approximately 98 per cent of U.S. traded equities. In order to fully replicate the U.S. market, an index would need to hold around 1000 more stocks, many of […]
After years of dramatic post-Soviet growth, Poland is a major contender within the global marketplace. Yet, it’s a mixed bag for institutional investors, who are finding both opportunities and limitations in the market. The country is holding up well in an increasingly challenging global environment where other economies are seeing growth slow, said Rachel Van […]
Looking at South Korea today, it’s hard to believe the country was one of the world’s poorest just a few decades ago. But since the 1960s, its economy has been growing quickly. “In fact, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, it had one of the highest growth rates in the world, and at times in […]
On Aug. 13, after Argentina’s primary elections took a different direction than markets expected, the country’s stocks suffered one of the most dramatic crashes in global history. “It was a super unusual reaction,” says Jim Barrineau, head of emerging market debt at Schroders Investment Management Ltd. He notes the market crash was especially bizarre because […]
Meat alternatives have garnered a lot of attention lately off the back of Beyond Meat’s listing on the NASDAQ and its subsequent rocket-propelled rise in share price. In just over two months, the stock went from its May initial public offering price of US$25 per share up to a high of US$234.90 in late June, […]
Vietnam has been growing at an impressive pace for several years, since it began to liberalize its economy in the mid-1980s. But there are still areas of friction for foreign institutional investors, namely the country’s relatively small scale capital markets and the ensuing issue of limited liquidity within them, says Sriyan Pietersz, an investment strategist […]
Direct exposure to emerging market equities may not be the best way to capture the growth potential of those economies. Instead, investors looking for the advantages of emerging market exposure should consider achieving it through holding companies based in developed economies that do business with emerging markets, according to a paper by Joon Woo Bae, […]