Asset Class Reports
In-depth regular coverage and asset manager surveys on leading asset classes
Latest Asset Class Reports
Trade and economy weigh on European credit
Despite trade worries and a challenging economic outlook, appetite for European credit remains robust, bolstered by refinancing activity and a supportive ECB stance
Equities: US equity markets expected to gain from Trump’s victory
As the political dust settles following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, global equity funds are eagerly eyeing the incoming administration and the opportunities it may offer
Private equity industry starts to show signs of recovery
Private equity has a bounce in its step once again, but it could be years before the industry recovers fully
Why emerging market debt deserves more scrutiny
Investors are becoming more sophisticated in how they approach emerging market debt
Private credit: How banks are joining forces with managers
As the private credit market grows, banks are looking to partner with private credit managers rather than compete with them
Equities: a return to passive safe havens
In an effort to counterbalance an uncertain economic outlook and geopolitical tensions, many institutional investors are avoiding active management
Fixed 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
Emerging 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?
Private debt: Private lending shows signs of recovery
Private credit is showing signs of recovery, but investors are focusing on defensive sectors
Equities portfolio strategy: Cautious optimism as hard landing fails to materialise in 2023
A shaky European economy will work in favour of quality companies when it comes to stock selection
Fixed income: Investors put weight behind bond markets
Exposure to bonds is rising at the fastest rate since the financial crisis, as investors focus on high-quality paper and the shorter end of the yield curve
Equities: Making sense of stock market concentration
The level of concentration within global equity markets is at record levels. This has significant implications for portfolio construction
Refinancings: private equity out in the cold
Activity has been disappointing due to macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical tensions
Emerging market debt: Corporates struggle to sway bond investors
There are mixed views about the prospects for emerging corporate debt, despite the sound fundamentals
Portfolio strategy – Fixed income & credit
Factors including rising inflation and interest rates, the war in Ukraine, and the uncertainty surrounding the global economy might have significantly slowed down the growth of an alternative asset class like private debt. But this has not been the case, and while fundraising by private debt managers for 2022 and 2023 might be challenging, investors are making new long-term commitments.
Portfolio strategy – Equities
Our report shines a light on investors’ thought processes when it comes to choosing active, passive or a combination of the two. We surveyed CIOs and senior portfolio managers to get an insight into how they construct their equity portfolios. Our report also features an investigation into the fall in listings on the UK equity market, at a time when listing domicile is increasingly consequential aspect of portfolio construction.
Portfolio strategy – Fixed income
Last year ushered in a new era for global fixed income and credit markets. It was the worst, in terms of returns, for bond investors in years, but it signalled a regime change. Investors need to be prepared for structurally higher inflation and rates, as well as higher volatility. But for fixed income managers, this is an environment where value is easier to find. Our report looks at this new beginning for fixed income investors, and at how selectivity has become key in the high yield and loan markets.
Portfolio Strategy – Emerging market equities
The Adani corporate scandal in India brought the issue of corporate governance in emerging markets back to the fore. As Lynn Strongin Dodds finds, however, emerging market corporates are slowly adapting to the requirements of institutional investors in terms of governance.
Portfolio strategy – Private debt
The rise in interest rates and inflation throughout 2022 brought traditional fixed-income assets back into focus for investors. The threat of a recession, the pressure on investors to maintain liquidity in portfolios and the ‘denominator effect’, which sees investors over-allocated to unlisted assets after a torrid 2022 for listed equities and bonds, are all facts that would suggest that private debt markets will suffer. However, investors are still backing experienced private debt managers and allocations to the asset class are forecast to grow further in the medium term.
Equities – Thematic funds tap into future trends
Themes have long captured the imagination of retail investors. Now institutions are showing interest, despite the lack of clear definitions
Asset class report – Fixed income
Last year was the worst in recent decades for both government bonds and credit, with portfolio returns worse than most professionals have experienced in their careers. But is the tide finally shifting as inflation starts to moderate and terminal policy rates are in sight? In any case, geopolitical risks and inflation are not set to go away, and recession will inevitably take a toll on corporate issuers.
Asset class report – Equities
Factor investment strategies were once the ‘new black’ - scientific, quant driven approaches that could deliver the ‘smart beta’ nirvana of lower volatility returns and optimised exposure to robust return premia from small cap, value and quality stocks. Pundits always warned adopters that not all factors would perform all of the time - and indeed they didn’t. But investors are taking a fresh look at factor strategies now the extended spell of outperformance of growth stocks has passed, and value has reasserted itself.
Private markets report
Our report looks at the impact of economic uncertainty on private debt strategies and on venture capital. We focus on the rising role of pension funds in the private equity secondaries market. We explain in detail what ‘tokenisation’ of private assets is and how it could change this market for institutional investors.
Emerging market debt report
This year has seen hefty losses on the main emerging market debt indices, in both hard and local currency denominated bonds. Investors are left assessing whether these price moves are justified. Or has the market overreacted to US rate rises and the war in Ukraine, leaving markets as a whole underpriced?
Equities – Are Paris-aligned benchmarks a climate gamechanger?
Inflexible annual carbon reduction targets and weak data can lead to flawed decision-making
Credit: Inflation and the bond markets
Risks look likely to be building in credit as central banks wreak collateral damage on economies in their bid to tame inflation
Quant managers: back with new weapons
As investors show renewed interest in value strategies, quant managers look for better uses of alternative data
Portfolio strategy – Emerging markets
It is no secret that while investments in emerging markets promise to deliver superior returns, thanks to their exposure to faster-growing economies, actual performance has been volatile and, at times, disappointing. Over the past decade, emerging market indices have outperformed, as have fund strategies.
Credit: Investors cautious over Ukraine war
Despite geopolitical tensions, inflation and rising costs, private debt market remains optimistic after a record 2021
Portfolio strategy – Hedge funds: macro bets on
Global macro funds should do better in the current market environment – but not all will thrive and investor due diligence will be key
Portfolio Strategy – Fixed income report
As the earnings season gets under way in early January, we look at 2021’s bumper level of bank debt issuance, in particular from Bank of America, JP Morgan and Citigroup, which have all recorded big increases in deposits. Banks look set to benefit from rising rates this year, but also from their historically large capital buffers, diverse funding levels and central bank liquidity backstops and offer attractive valuations.
Asset class report – Equities: focus on tech and social media
Oh MAAAN! FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) are definitely due a rebrand now Facebook has restyled itself as Meta Platforms, Inc. While a rebrand can refresh perceptions, Facebook’s underlying business issues look more intractable, posing questions for long-term investors. We look at two topics in our equities report: how big tech companies are maturing, and how social media companies’ activities are dividing investor opinions.
Asset class report – Private equity
Co-investment in private equity is easier said than done: we look at what it takes to be a successful co-investor. We also look at Africa where there are an array of opportunities for investors
Emerging market debt report
Our opening article in this report looks at emerging market private credit. In EMs there is a $100bn corporate funding gap with 90% of lending through banks. But we find EMD managers broadly cautious overall, particularly on China, with interviews conducted before the Evergrande story broke. Lastly, we look at Latin America, where investors encounter populism and social unrest but sustainability bond issuance is booming.
Asset class report – Equities
The number of listed companies in the US and the UK has fallen dramatically over the past quarter century, putting more pressure on institutional investors to invest in private equity, as we cover in this report. The report also looks at the emerging market small-cap sector and UK’s micro caps.
Inflation report – Pension funds riding the wave
As the outlook for inflation becomes increasingly cloudy, European institutional investors try to focus on long-term trends
Portfolio strategy – Credit report
As the institutional investment community heads towards a post-COVID new normal, private credit remains a favourite among investors despite inflationary headwinds. In this report, we also cover the record amounts of capital raised by private-debt funds last year, the latest developments ESG in private markets, and how the digital transformation accelerated by COVID is impacting private debt.
Portfolio strategy – Factor investing report
COVID-19 has added a further blow to a decade of factor investing underperformance and highlighted the increasing impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. In this report, we analyse how it may be possible to complement traditional factors with ESG-related measures.
Asset class report – Emerging market equities
The pandemic has substantially altered the landscape for emerging markets. While some countries have contained its effect better than any developed market, others have been devastated. How should investors regard the impact of COVID-19 in their decision-making on future increases on allocations to emerging markets? In this report, we analyse the outlook for the asset class in general, and find out why Brazil continues to hold the interest of investors.
Asset class report – Fixed income & credit
As the world still grapples with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, credit investors continue their search for attractive yields in an environment where liquidity, even for long-term investors, could become critical. In this report, we look at different aspects of the fixed income & credit universe, including multi-asset credit strategies, the changing US high yield market, and the opportunities for institutional investors in trade and supply-chain finance.
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