Investing

Fresh registrations for alternative investment funds in Luxembourg, considered the top European hub for private investments, this month are at their lowest monthly level in nearly six years. Regulatory changes as well as market conditions are cited as a reason for the slowdown. Some issuers have decided to wait for the new year to avoid regulatory reporting in 2022.

High-yield bonds are not equal. In the US market this year, the difference in spreads between bonds with credit ratings of CCC and below versus BBs rose from 4.6 percent to 9 percent.

Style risk is one of the key risks that sustainable investors need to be aware of. After all, many equity funds with a sustainable mandate tend to lean towards a growth style. Any choice of style brings the likelihood of it falling out of favour with investors over a period of time. So too this year’s growth style.

Outlines of reform proposals for European long-term investment funds (Eltif), agreed by EU policy-makers last month, have been hailed as major positive step forward by some in the industry. More quietly, though, others suggest the fundamental contradictions at the heart of the vehicle have yet to be resolved. 

It has been a dire and highly volatile stock market year so far. The opportunity for active investors to make a difference and outsmart the market. Fine words notwithstanding, more than three quarters of active managers have failed again this year. “The biggest cause of active funds’ failure is their inability to survive.”

This is according to the latest Morningstar European Active/Passive Barometer, a semi-annual report that compares the performance of European-based active funds with passive funds in their respective Morningstar categories.

Luxembourg’s government is proposing to simplify the corporate income tax process for investment funds which have overseas investors or subsidiaries by reducing their risk of being subjected to full Luxembourg anti-tax avoidance corporation tax. The changes to the “reverse hybrid rule” seek to remove doubt from how to deal with tax exempt entities.

Europe should not count on a traditional economic recovery. Due to second-round effects, inflation will widen further by 2023. And, ING chief economist Carsten Brzeski says, don’t count on gas prices coming down either. Nay, on the contrary, the real energy crisis will come next year. 

As might be expected, the US 10-year - 3-month yield curve has also turned negative. This inversion means that the two traditional yield curves with the longest and most reliable track record as recession predictors are now negative. By itself that’s is no reason to sell equities, or any asset class for that matter.

Luxempart, a private equity firm listed on the Luxembourg bourse, said on Thursday that it has generated a “significant” investment return by selling the bulk of its stake in Swiss diagnostic radiology firm Rimed to diagnostic services provider Unilabs.

Despite ominous forecasts, the German stock market is also participating unhindered in the rally that most markets saw in October. The DAX index rose 8.4 per cent last month.  This is striking, as virtually all indicators point to a very bleak outlook for the eurozone’s largest economy. Is the German economic model faltering?