Investment Officer

‘It’s a good time to be a bit more bullish again,’ says Jeroen Blokland, head of Robeco’s multi-asset team. Especially for equities and commodities, the asset manager is counting on double-digit returns.

The UK financial regulator FCA had extended market access for investment funds from the European Union beyond the end of the transition period following Brexit for up to three years. Alternative investments funds, however, are excluded from the so-called Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR).

The American exceptionalism will finally make way for outperformance of European and EM equities, according to JP Morgan AM’s annual long-term capital market assumptions.

Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine that sent global stock markets higher on Monday prompted double digit gains in value stocks while growth companies saw their share prices tumble. Is this the long-awaited rotation to value?

The too-close-to-call race in the US presidential elections is the worst possible outcome for investors as it will make it difficult to implement an effective stimulus package for the economy, according to asset managers.

We should bear in mind the persisting uncertainty around the elections will not only affect financial markets, says Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco. ‘Our main concern is social unrest. If this scenario unfolds, I would not be surprised to see a sell-off in more risky assets.’

A victory of Joe Biden in the US presidential election will bring an end to the dominance Wall Street growth stocks in favour of cheaper cyclical stocks, according to UBS AM.

European sustainable funds attracted inflows of €52.6 billion in the third quarter of 2020, bringing total assets in sustainable funds to €882 billion according to figures from Morningstar.

Net inflows were slightly down from the €55.5 billion in the second quarter, but represented a bigger share (40%) of overall European fund flows. The strong inflows were driven by continued investor interest in environmental, social, and governance issues, intensified in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the expansion of the sustainable fund universe.

The lack of available data on company-level will be the main challenge for asset managers to deal with after the regulation for sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector, better known as SFDR, comes into force in March next year, according to Alfi’s Nathalie Dogniez (picture).

The US government wants to push a law through Congress that will make it more difficult for pension funds and fiduciary managers to allocate assets to ESG-driven funds or investments. The plan has sparked the ire of the asset management sector.

The CSSF is urging all financial sector workers to again work from home wherever possible. The new guidance comes after the Luxembourg government announced new restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19 on Friday.

‘We are facing an unprecedented upsurge in coronavirus infections whose consequences cannot be measured at this stage’, the CSSF said in a press release. ‘The government indicated that the situation gives cause for concern during its press conference.’