ESG Investments To Go Passive
August 19, 2020--More than half of institutional investors, 55%, believe the majority of their environmental, social and governance investments will be in passive products within the next five years, according to research from asset manager Invesco.
Institutional investors currently hold a fifth of their ESG exposure in passive vehicles such as exchange-trades funds, and nearly half intend to increase their passive holdings over the next two years.>P>view more
WEEKLY ENERGY RECAP: Oil demand set to falter till 2022 as virus uncertainty mounts
August 16, 2020--Crude oil prices remained stable for the third month in a row with Brent crude moving in a tight range between $40 and $45 per barrel since early June.
Brent advanced to $44.80 per barrel by the end of the week as WTI also gained to $42.01 per barrel.
The big three global oil outlooks published by OPEC, the International Energy Agency and the US Energy Information Administration were all bearish and based on the view that demand may not recover to 2019 levels until 2022 at the earliest.
Funds branded 'ESG' are laden with technology stocks
August 14, 2020--Campaigners say managers have overdosed on US giants such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
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WTO issues new report on how COVID-19 crisis may push up trade costs
August 13, 2020--The WTO Secretariat has published a new information note warning of possible increases to trade costs due to COVID-19 disruptions. The note examines the pandemic's impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies areas where higher costs may persist even after the pandemic is contained.
The note estimates that travel and transport costs account for as much as a third of trade costs depending on the sector. Pandemic-related travel restrictions are therefore likely to affect trade costs for as long as they remain in place. For example, global air cargo capacity shrank by 24.6 per cent in March 2020, as passenger flights account for around half of air cargo volumes.
Rampant bitcoin gives crypto hedge funds a big lift
August 13, 2020--Digital currency funds were up more than 50% from January to July, according to Eurekahedge.
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China squeezes diversification out of MSCI's EM equities nest
August 12, 2020--Three countries in Asia now account for almost two-thirds of MSCI benchmark.
Active tech, healthcare and ESG funds outpace passives Bloomberg Launches Proprietary ESG Scores IOSCO examines the evolution of liquidity provision in equity securities markets view the IOSCO Liquidity Provision in the Secondary Markets for Equity Securities report Shift to Electronic Bond Trading Is a Tailwind for MarketAxess
August 11, 2020--Actively managed funds have been outpacing passives in hot-ticket equity sectors as investors seek exposure to the economic megatrends that have been accentuated by the Covid-19 crisis.
Active technology, healthcare and ecology funds have been am...view more
August 11, 2020--Scores will provide transparent, data driven insights into company performance
Bloomberg today announced the launch of propriety ESG scores. This initial offering includes Environmental and Social (ES) scores for 252 companies in the Oil & Gas sector, and Board Composition scores for more than 4,300 companies across multiple industries.
"ESG data is critical to the investment process. We see an opportunity to provide transparent and complete scoring methodologies along with the underlying data in order to support investment and finance professionals make informed decisions," said Patricia Torres, Global Head of Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Solutions. "By providing transparent ESG data and scores, we are helping investors decode raw data that is otherwise hard to compare across companies. For corporates, these scores offer a valuable, quantitative and normalized benchmark that will easily highlight their ESG performance."
August 11, 2020--The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published a report that explores how liquidity provision has evolved in equity securities markets in recent years. The report, titled Liquidity Provision in the Secondary Markets for Equity Securities, identifies some of the key elements of market making programs that may help promote the provision of liquidity, strengthen investor confidence and foster fair and efficient markets.
Liquidity provision in equity securities markets plays a vital role in price discovery, thereby helping markets to function efficiently. This report, based on a survey of regulatory authorities, trading venues and market intermediaries, considers how liquidity provision has evolved in equity securities markets.
August 10, 2020--The bond market continues to shift towards electronic trading...
JPMorgan Chase's bond-trading data showed that 77% of Treasury bond trades were conducted electronically in June, up from about 70% in March, according to a report from the Financial Times. That's well above the average of about 50% over the past two years.
JPMorgan said the data indicates a dramatic shift in the way the entire bond market trades, not just Treasurys. The investment bank added that while we may see a decrease in electronic trading as money managers return to their offices, the electronic-trading trend is here to stay.