August 15, 2016 It might come as a surprise to investors that the S&P has just logged its fifth consecutive monthly rise. The index rose over 3.6% in July, its best performance since March, on the back of better than expected second quarter corporate earnings and an ebbing of fears of fallout from the BREXIT...
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The Alpha Paradox
Newsletter June 2016
June 3, 2016
Last month saw the second quarter launch on a positive note, which fizzled as the month ended, and May saw the opposite effect. A subdued and gloomy first half was salvaged by a more resilient second half and the month was modestly positive in the end. The USD reversed course again to strengthen,...
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Newsletter May 2016
May 6, 2016
The second quarter kicked off on a positive note with April initially building on March’s momentum. The month ended on a bit of whimper, however, as investors fretted about the outlook for earnings and concerns regarding defaults mounted. Overall, though, markets were remarkably resilient in the face of enduring macro noise and uncertainty,...
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Newsletter April 2016
Spring in the air
March saw a welcome continuation of February’s positive momentum, and Emerging Markets were the most obvious beneficiaries. We enter the second quarter with significantly modified rate rise expectations, particularly in the US, a USD currency whose ascent may have run out of steam, a stabilizing oil price and the first green shoots...
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Newsletter March 2016
March 4, 2016
Fighting fire with fire
The month of January was one of the worst months for trading since 2008, and February offered some modest reprieve, although after shocks continued to shake market confidence. In China, markets took a pause at the beginning of the month to welcome the year of the Red Fire Money, and...
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Private Equity – The Sleeping Giant
March 2, 2016
In recent months public market volatility has dominated investor discourse, as capital has fled from riskier assets and investors have sought safe havens. Private equity continues to quietly grow, however. Year end statistics from Preqin state that private capital assets grew by close to 5% during the six months since December 2014 and...
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More attrition in the land of funds of hedge funds – what is sustainable?
February 26, 2016
This week there was news that Carlyle had, after just over two years, decided to shutter its DGAM Fund of Hedge Fund Unit. The enterprise had been added to the Carlyle multi-asset stable in November 2013 in order to add fund of hedge funds to the existing offerings within real estate and private equity....
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Is ESG and Impact Investing about to go mainstream?
February 12, 2016
A presidential election cycle always stirs talk of values, and impact investing may be about to receive a new stimulus as DOL regulations have been altered suggesting that retirement plans may be the next frontier for such funds.
http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2016/02/01/retirement-plans-will-be-next-evolution-in-esg-inv...
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Ever more “opportunistic” in the search for return
February 12, 2016
We read this week that South Carolina had restructured its asset allocation to introduce new categories of asset classes in a drive towards more diversification. The $28.2 bn public fund has added new asset classes to its target allocation including portable alpha; equity options; infrastructure; real estate investment trusts; commodity trading adviser/managed futures...
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EM: the epicenter of investor angst
February 12, 2016
As emerging markets lagged developed markets yet again in 2015, the outflow figures were staggering. According to research of Capital Economics, investors pulled $270 billion from emerging markets last quarter that surpassed withdrawals during the financial crisis of 2008. China led the outflows, with about $159 billion pulled out of its economy in...
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