The key moment in the global monetary policy cycle finally arrived in September, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) delivering its first interest rate cut of this cycle, the only surprise element being its size at 50bps. Other major central banks, including the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England,
The chart above shows the recent performance of Chinese equities, proxied here by the country’s blue-chip CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzen- listed companies, following the announcement of monetary stimulus from the
The shrinking number of companies listed in developed markets is raising concern in some quarters of the investment industry. The statistics are striking. In the US, there has been a 40% drop in the number of listed companies since 1996. The numbers are even more acute in the UK, which
Last week, the Federal Reserve delivered a highly anticipated decision, lowering interest rates and marking the beginning of a new monetary policy cycle. This shift provides an excellent opportunity to assess the current investment landscape and consider market expectations. Download PDF
A couple of weeks ago my colleague, Andre Meyer, questioned in his Global Matters piece whether there was still value in value. But what exactly is “value”? A quick “Google” suggests a common theme – buying stocks that are trading below their true worth or appear underpriced on some form
By the end of August, the big correction in markets in late July/early August seemed a distant memory, with markets quickly regaining most of the ground lost in that sudden and very brief risk-off event. Most asset classes and markets ended August in positive territory, with the MSCI World index
Excluding cohorts of stocks from an investment universe often sparks debate about how this impacts overall fund performance because, if you remove the best performers you can’t benefit from the strong returns that they generate. Whilst this observation is true at a high level, the reality is that certain stocks
Since the Global Financial Crisis, value has suffered one of its longest drawdowns against other style factors, most notably growth. Calls for the death of value have been growing. So, let’s explore the arguments against value, seeking answers to why it has underperformed and whether these outcries have been premature.
Over the past several weeks, the tone of global equity markets has changed, with several breaking uptrends from last autumn. Many attribute this to a combination of restrictive policies of the Federal Reserve in the face of weakening jobs data, along with the technical unwind of the Japanese carry trade,