Geert Dekker

High US import tariffs are meant to help reduce the budget deficits of the United States. “Whoever the next two or three presidents may be, they will face exactly the same problem: the country must find a way to reduce its deficits. Because they are unsustainable.”

At the current rate of production, known gold reserves will be exhausted in roughly twenty years. Finding new sources will only become more expensive, but in the meantime, mining company stocks are performing exceptionally well. The gold miners index on Wall Street gained more than 40 percent over the past twelve months.

Sustainability experts have reached an agreement on an objective approach for calculating avoided CO₂ emissions. On Thursday, a dozen asset managers introduced a harmonized, open methodology that allows for meaningful comparisons of economic activities and investments in this area. Until now, parties were able to use vastly different reference scenarios in such calculations.

While some players are abandoning quant investing, others are expanding their positions in this domain. Scale is becoming increasingly important in quant investing, says Weili Zhou, Deputy CIO and Head of Quant Investing at Robeco, home to the largest quant team in the Netherlands.

The market for joint EU bonds is likely to grow significantly in the coming years. In any case, the likelihood of this has increased considerably following the outcome of Sunday’s German parliamentary elections. This is according to financial analysts, asset managers and institutional investors.

The number of ETFs listed on Euronext exchanges rose by 5 percent last year, exceeding 4.000, while the number of investment funds declined by the same percentage to just over 2.300. In the United States, the number of ETFs grew by approximately 15 percent in 2024, reaching 3.920.

With the acquisition of Axa Investment Managers by the French banking group BNP Paribas, the European asset management sector strengthens its position against “the Americans”. However, more is needed to halt the shift of managed assets from Europe to the United States.

Swap rates have fallen below European government bond yields for several weeks—a rare shift that is forcing institutional investors to reconsider their interest rate hedging strategies.

The year 2025 can only be an exceptional one for equities if geopolitical stability materialises, a prospect that seems unlikely. Large asset managers are once again emphasising diversification to withstand the anticipated volatility.

Avoid European equities and steer clear of most bonds. According to major investment houses, this is the key strategy to prevent issues in investment portfolios next year.