Emerging market debt – a reversal of fortunes
Investors are fleeing from emerging market debt, and optimism for any recovery in the near term is low, particularly for local currency government bonds.
Investors are fleeing from emerging market debt, and optimism for any recovery in the near term is low, particularly for local currency government bonds.
A gold rush has gripped Monaco. All but one of the fund selectors our researcher interviewed when she visited the principality recently, said they are either sure they will buy more gold or will seriously consider the opportunity.
Yanis Varoufakis would find it hard to resist voting for Brexit if he were British, he said at Expert Investor’s Pan-European Congress in Rome last Friday. However, his wish is not going to materialise, congress delegates believe.
Smart beta ETFs charge investors up to three times as much as plain-vanilla index trackers, according to newly published research by Morningstar. This disparity is not justified by the additional cost of constructing and calculating a ‘smart’ index, and is a severe drag on performance. Therefore, investors should think carefully before investing in a smart…
European investors are taking risk off the table after the recent market turmoil, the February reading of the State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) suggests. However, investor confidence in North America and especially Asia increased over the month.
Multi-asset funds saw their first net outflows in more than four years in January, according to fresh Morningstar data. The outflows were the biggest since October 2008.
European equity ETFs saw record inflows in 2015, according to Morningstar data. However, it has now turned out ETF investors only joined the party once the happy hour was over. Investors who put their money into a MSCI Europe ETF a year ago are now having to cope with a loss of 12.4%.
The €1bn of net outflows from emerging market equity funds in December brought total net redemptions from the asset class to €36.3bn in 2015. Though emerging markets elsewhere suffered most heavily from the commodity price slump, Asia was suffering the biggest blows in 2015.
Global equity markets are experiencing their worst start to the year since 2008. While some are fearing this is the start of a bear market, others believe markets are oversold and equities now look at their most compelling in years. There are valid arguments on both sides, but some seem more right than others.
Net capital outflows from emerging markets reached an all-time high of $735bn (€674bn) in 2015, up almost sevenfold compared to 2014, according to a study conducted by the International Institute of Finance (IIF). The bulk of the outflows relate to China.
Investors are often accused of buying into a trend too late, when markets have already gone up a fair bit. But Europe’s fund buyers are putting on a brave face, and are already planning to move back into emerging market equities before they bounce back.
US equity funds have a hard time in beating their peers on a sustained basis. Only 4.28% of 678 US equity funds analysed by S&P managed to consistently finish in the top-quartile during three consecutive one-year periods from September 2012 to September 2015. So no wonder investors prefer the passive option…