August was a hot month for momentum ETFs. Trend-following equity trackers saw record inflows of $300m (€250m) from European investors, Blackrock reports. Global equity momentum ETFs were responsible for the bulk of the inflows.
Pictet AM’s chief strategist Luca Paolini tried to redefine the concept of a market correction this week, urging investors to take advantage of a 2% fall in asset prices to “rebuild positions in riskier assets”.
Franklin Templeton has introduced a range of smart beta ETFs to European investors, with four strategies to be launched on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.
Morningstar’s Alex Bryan casts doubt on the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of smart beta funds.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which is in the process of increasing its equity exposure to 70% while reducing fixed income allocation to 25%, announced the changes in a letter to its only shareholder, Norway’s ministry of finance. In the letter, the fund’s chief executive Yngve Slyngstad argues that investing in a diversified bond portfolio…
A US warning that North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons would spark a “massive military response” saw sales of physical gold soar to the highest level since Brexit on Monday morning.
Many a fund manager will tell you that investing in overlooked, underappreciated ‘hidden gems’ will lead to outperformance. But in emerging markets, the opposite has worked this year.
Despite their dear price tag, the FA(A)NG stocks have had remarkable staying power, surviving a sell-off and reaching record share price highs. But has the relative safety of the tech giants come to an end?
European investors have been responding to this year’s dollar weakness by hedging their investments in US equities, according to Morningstar data.
An impasse over raising the debt ceiling could see the US hit the financial buffers in early October failing to meet around 23% of its short term obligations, an analysis by Washington think tank the Bipartisan Policy Centre has said.
The unwinding of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme is very likely to see credit spreads widening with an impact on other assets well beyond US treasuries says Chris Iggo, chief investment officer fixed Income, Axa Investment Managers.
Emerging Market equity and bond funds ended their longest inflow streaks since 2013 during the second week of August as investors took some of their year-to-date gains off the table.
