After a damaging year, the “massive technical headwinds” for emerging market debt are easing. And the biggest opportunities might be the smallest parts of the benchmark.
The chaos of 2022 has reset valuations to the point where they’re hard to ignore, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management. That doesn’t mean the future of markets is any less cloudy.
“We had the courage to stick with our investment strategies,” ACS CIO Michael Block tells ISN. “Often what happens with a strategy that doesn’t work is you cut and run at the wrong time. We were lucky enough or clever enough or brave enough that that didn’t happen, and our members reaped the benefit this year.”
While hopes of a ‘soft landing’ abound, global pension funds are a little more cynical. A stagflationary environment is not just possible, but likely, and hedging against it will be a herculean task.
As the world’s top 100 asset managers grow to awesome size, they’re confronted by a “complex and uncertain” macro environment and need to prepare for the burgeoning systemic risks of climate change.
The war on ESG rages anew after a rollercoaster 2022, but its detractors won’t win the fight. And as ESG matures, the future of passive index-tracking strategies is shaky.
According to RIAA, the YFYS test “runs contrary to sound climate risk management”, and goes against both the government’s own net zero plans and APRA’s guidance on climate change risk.
Chant West’s proposed replacement for the performance test might cut through the complexity and create a fairer system for super funds, which have dramatically altered their investment strategies to avoid failing.
In his latest investment missive, Howard Marks pushes back on the controversy around private markets, saying valuations shouldn’t reflect the psychological swings that dominate public markets.
Sovereign wealth funds have hit pause on their internalisation programs as they discover that they aren’t naturals at private markets investing. And inflation and geopolitics are driving allocations to a broad range of alternative assets.
