The Federal Reserve held the US base rate steady again last night at a 22-year peak of 5.25–5.5%, as widely expected, writes Alex Sebastian. While the decision to leave rates unchanged was no surprise, Chair Jerome Powell’s accompanying commentary was where the interesting elements were found. While once again reiterating the Fed’s determination to bring…
The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to hold interest rates at 4%, ending a run of 10 consecutive rate hikes, writes Hannah Williford. The decision comes in the wake of struggling labour markets in Europe, along with mediocre results for household and corporate lending data. The ECB hinted when it last convened in September that…
Green bonds are propelling the worldwide ESG debt market, according to analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence, writes Laura Miller. The resilience of the green bond market in the first nine months of the year saw issuance exceed $505bn – or 48% of total sustainable issuance – up 8% on the same period last year. Social bond…
A framework for classifying organisations, funds and indices as sustainable investments – by Laura Miller Clarity AI has launched a sustainable investment index and ETF methodology, which aligns with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). According to the sustainability technology platform, the methodology will help index and ETF providers build, define and market products falling…
The parent company of Ark Investment Management, Ark Invest, has acquired specialist ETF issuer Rize ETF from AssetCo. Rize ETF, which was founded in 2019, will be renamed Ark Invest Europe as part of the transaction, and will be positioned as a separate arm of Ark Invest. The firm’s purchase from UK asset management firm AssetCo,…
Eurozone interest rates could remain at restrictive levels for “quite some time” – by Lauren Hardy The European Central Bank’s decision to hike rates for the 10th consecutive time today (14 September) could tip the EU “further into recessionary territory”, according to some investment professionals, who warn the bloc’s financial squeeze could intensify in Q4 2023…
Following the expansion of the BRICS group, Sarah Godfrey looks at which constituents offer the best opportunities Last month saw the 15th BRICS summit take place in Johannesburg. At the meeting, the five members of the group – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – announced that they were inviting six more countries – Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran,…
Trium Capital has launched a multi-strategy alternatives UCITS fund. The Trium Multi-Strategy UCITS Fund will allocate capital across 10 different alternative strategies, including capital structure arbitrage, equity long/short, systematic equity, event driven and global macro. The fund will be led by head of multi-strategy solutions Clark Fenton alongside the wider multi-strategy team. He said the…
Are bonds a good or bad investment in the current environment? Sarah Godfrey takes a closer look Bond yields can be a real head-scratcher for investors. Rising yields are a function of falling prices; falling prices usually mean an asset is out of favour, yet higher bond yields signal better returns for those who buy…
Is the probability distribution of returns different?
Nomura Asset Management (NAM) has launched a corporate hybrid bond fund open to investors across Europe. The Nomura Funds Ireland – Corporate Hybrid Bond Fund aims to provide investors with exposure to high quality issuers with yields comparable to those of high yield bonds. The strategy will be managed by NAM head of corporate hybrid…
Boardrooms have ‘visibly evolved’, according to EY Investors Boardroom Monitor, but half of groups yet to achieve 40% female representation on boards Almost half (47%) of Europe’s asset and wealth managers are yet to reach the 40% female representation on boards target required by the European Women on Boards Directive, according to the latest EY…
