United States – Page 3
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Asset Class ReportsMagnificent seven stocks suck up capital from other sectors
Concentration of US equity markets around a handful of names remains an intractable issue
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Opinion PiecesHow AI is making inroads in America's retirement industry
Artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to gain traction in the retirement industry, even if it is still early days.
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FeaturesMarket predicts US soft landing - June 2024
A combination of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s press conference and a slightly weaker-than-expected US April non-farm payrolls outcome succeeded in flipping the market back to a soft-landing narrative for the US economy. US Treasury bonds rallied sharply, taking other markets with them, while the yen weakened significantly against the dollar before recovering.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - June 2024
Trump and Biden are both losing to undecided voters, a group that is now unusually large and may be sensitive to Trump’s legal troubles. Biden’s approval rate is below his score in presidential polls, while Trump’s score is the same in presidential polls and those measuring voters’ opinion of him. In the UK, the Conservatives took another drubbing in the local elections.
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FeaturesT+1 settlement rules pose challenges for fund managers
A global move to compress settlement cycles – that is, the time between when a transaction is agreed and executed and when the transaction is completed and the securities and cash are exchanged – is underway. While the aim is to deliver lowered risk and cost savings, investors and market participants face challenges due to the increasingly interconnected nature of financial markets.
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NewsSwedish pension funds push Tesla AGM to adopt workers’ rights
AMF to back AGM proposal filed by Folksam and others, and takes aim at Apple’s worker rights behaviour too
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NewsNorwegian oil fund drops $400m of stocks on war-linked grounds
NBIM follows advice from its Council on Ethics, and banishes L3Harris, Adani unit and Weichai Power, divesting nearly $400m
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Asset Class ReportsFixed income: European high yield stands its ground
Investors flocked to the European junk bond market last year and despite a strong US economy, there is still appetite for European issuers
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Opinion PiecesUS public pension funds focus on labour practices in private equity
Private equity has become dependent on public pension funds, which represent almost one-third of all investors in the asset class. These schemes invested 13% of their assets – over $620bn (€580bn) in 2022 – up from 3.5% in 2001 and 8.3% in 2011, according to data from public pension research non-profit Equable Institute.
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FeaturesUS economy continues to surprise
The resilience of the US economy continues to confound observers. The Federal Reserve’s 11 hikes in interest rates over the course of 2022 and 2023 were implemented to rein in economic strength and to stifle inflation. Scroll forward to the second quarter of 2024 and both inflation and economic activity are still higher than expected.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - May 2024
EU parliamentary elections are approaching fast. Current polls predict a shift to the right, with the current centrist parties remaining dominant and the extremist right overtaking the Eurosceptics. US President Donald Trump is still liable to be convicted in a criminal case, but his poll figures are rising.
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NewsAP3 CEO wary of social media manipulation in election year
Staffan Hansén gets up close to US forestry asset while staying aware of 2024’s potential for global political change
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging market equities: investors grapple with peak political risk
As billions of people head to the polls in 2024, how will politics influence flows to emerging market equities?
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FeaturesReluctance to drop interest rates disappoints the markets
US rates markets entered the year enthusiastically pricing in over 160 basis points of cuts through 2024, and have since had to push back hard on both the timing and magnitude of interest rate cuts now expected by year-end.
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Opinion PiecesUS pension plans wrestle with China private market exposure
After a horrible 2023, Chinese stocks look cheap and attractive. But most US pension funds do not seem interested in investing in the Chinese stock market. On the contrary, they have reduced their holdings since 2020 and some are exiting entirely, according to Bloomberg analysis.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator - April 2024
The shadow of the US presidential elections is longer than normal because Trump is under several legal clouds. He could still get barred from participating but that seems unlikely. He does have a liquidity problem, a self-destructive streak, a mercurial character and no credible alternative waiting in the wings, though.
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Opinion PiecesUnder the spotlight: US pension plans and their use of leverage
Does US public pension funds’ use of borrowed money and derivatives pose systemic risks to global financial markets? That is the concern of global regulators, which have recently stepped up scrutiny of the practice, according to a recent article in the Financial Times (FT). But senior executives interviewed by IPE seem less worried.
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FeaturesContrasting global economic growth fortunes
Economic growth patterns across the world paint a picture of contrasts, ranging from surprisingly robust in the US to soft and struggling in China, with the stagnant euro area narrowly avoiding a technical recession after posting zero GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a 0.1% decline the previous quarter.
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FeaturesA bumper year for convertible bond issuance
The convertible bond market ended 2023 on a strong note with its main index – the Refinitiv Global Focus – returning 6% in the fourth quarter. The optimism has continued into 2024 on the back of reasonable valuations, historically low equity volatility and better opportunites.
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Special ReportAGM season preview: nature at the ballot box
Despite the backlash against ESG, biodiversity risks will be on the agenda during the next round of shareholder meetings
