Investing

The money supply is rapidly shrinking, something that rarely, if ever, happens. In the United States, the money supply is shrinking by more than 4 per cent on an annual basis. And while there is an endless debate whether you should look mainly at the money supply or the money supply, as far as I am concerned, the latter is the most important.

The launch of the amended Eltif regulation – version 2.0 – fits a narrative in some quarters that the version of Eltif already on the books is some kind of failure. Data nevertheless shows that investment in even the “limited” version of Eltif in place since 2015 is still growing quickly and various projections specify even faster growth. In order for the vehicle to be sold to masses of clients under Eltif 2.0, experts said that consequential adaptations will have to be made to the way such funds are sold and distributed.

The Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, one of the world’s largest property investment funds, in April accepted 29 per cent of 4.5 billion dollars worth in redemption requests. The fund told investors on Monday that it decided to fulfil 1.3 billion, less than a third, of these requests to sell.

A recession is what usually concerns many investors, and economists. But exactly how they estimate the probability of a recession is often unclear to me. And sometimes not much of the “approach” is correct either. Given the significant potential impact on different asset classes, it makes sense to attempt to get a grip on it myself.

Luxembourg’s finance minister has tabled a proposal to the grand duchy’s parliament to encourage the uptake of European long-term investment funds known as Eltifs. If adopted, the proposal will exempt Eltifs from requiring to pay the quarterly registration tax levied on Luxembourg investment funds.

Lawyers in Luxembourg expect that at least 20 new European long-term investment funds, known as Eltifs, will be registered in the grand duchy this year, even before the more liberal regulatory regime for these funds enters into force in 2024, researchers at Scope Fund Analysis said. 

Eltifs grew more than 50 percent last year into a 11.3 billion euro market, also buoyed by 4 billion euro in inflows. More than half of the 77 Eltifs available were registered in Luxembourg, according to the latest Eltif study by Scope Fund Analysis. 

In the U.S., a surge in deposits from small to medium-sized lenders is leading to a credit crunch across the country as smaller financial institutions sell mortgages and bonds at record pace to offset losses. This looming crisis is causing concern within financial markets about how it will affect economic growth moving forward. 

Equity investors may be underestimating the potential consequences of a miscalculation of the Federal Reserve interest rate path. The market is already pricing in a Goldilocks scenario of stable economic growth and low inflation. It could be a costly misjudgment.

Institutional investors expect greater transparency when investing in alternative assets, mostly with risk management in mind, according to a new survey by Clearwater Analytics.

According to a poll of 254 institutional investors, representing over $10 trillion in assets under management, the two key benefits to achieving greater transparency in alts should be better risk management (72 per cent) and a better understanding of performance (54 per cent).  

A total of 30 new Reserved Alternative Investment Funds, or Raifs, were added to the Luxembourg Business Register during March 2023, down from 40 in the same month a year earlier. During the first quarter, 15 percent fewer Raifs were registered than in the same period last year.