Analysis

Markets could be asked to absorb a lot more debt as central banks lighten their balance sheets. But as governments continue to issue it, nobody knows whether unwinding can be done in an orderly manner.

The CIO Is still considered the shot caller, but the fundamental changes that the super system is experiencing means funds could adopt a more diffuse operational model and power will shift away from the “masters of the universe”.

The aggressive sell off in US bonds has prompted many to speculate that interest rates have adjusted upwards on a structural basis. But Ninety One investment strategist Russell Silbertson takes a different view.

Institutional investors feel ready for anything markets might throw at them, according to a new report from Mercer. But while they still want to manage money themselves, a lot of them don’t know if they’re any good at it.

The question of how much private market assets are really worth has more answers than ever with the growing popularity of evergreen funds. But the drive for more and more frequent valuations has to end somewhere. Right?

As super funds internalise more and more of their investment management, they’re taking on more and more risk. Many of them still lack a plan to deal with it.

Unrest in the Middle East, political dysfunction in Washington and the looming shadow of a global recession means markets face a new wall of worry in time for the holiday season.

Everybody’s worried that the world’s largest economy will suffer the same fate as Japan did when its asset price bubble collapsed in the late 80s. But, like it or not, China has one big advantage.

Big funds are looking for help with investment governance as they internalise more and more of their resources, according to JANA, and it’s also seeing a lot more demand for guidance on net zero objectives.

Not every risk is out in the open, and Allspring Global Investments is keeping a close eye on those that some segments of the market struggle to price – including a US government shutdown and a war on the Korean peninsula.

Too much of what managers call alpha is just a roll of the dice. To find the real stuff you have to look in private markets, according to Michael Block, while trend following strategies will get you something that looks just like it.

Uncertainty, dispersion and volatility are “magical words” for hedge funds, and the $160 billion Aware Super has reframed its thinking around the liquid alternatives space in a more complex macro environment.