Investing

There is a mismatch between asset managers and institutional investors when it comes to ESG, according to PwC Luxembourg’s annual report on the Luxembourg banking sector, which this year places extra emphasis on developments surrounding ESG. The report explains that three-quarters of institutional investors plan to stop investing in non-ESG products next year, but only 14 per cent of fund houses plan to stop marketing non-ESG products. 

The US stock market is always more expensive than other markets. However, America’s premium over Europe is now so high that betting on Europe may be a better option for investors, according to Joost van Leenders, who explained Van Lanschot Kempen’s outlook during a recent interview by Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s Dutch-language sister publication.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the world’s largest CO2 emitter, is conspicuous by his absence at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Critics consider the ‘unclear’ Chinese climate policy the nail in the coffin of the Paris Agreement. 

A number of investors choose to sell investments in fossil fuel producers. This reduces the CO2 emissions of the investment portfolio but only partially protects the investors against the risks of the climate transition. 

Gamestop and Dogecoin are passé. The world of internet memes – “fast-spreading internet jokes” - has a new hobbyhorse: Nancy Pelosi. The buying and selling of shares by the “Queen of Stocks”, as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives is called on financial meme pages and TikTok accounts, is being closely watched by retail investors.

Investors in emerging markets should completely ignore the 60 per cent worst performing companies when defining their investment universe. These companies bring extra risk, without rewarding you for it. In addition, investing in China is very different at the moment: great opportunities are better left aside in some cases. 

Bond investor Pimco is also increasingly looking to alternatives to traditional bond categories. The fund house sees attractive income-generating opportunities in real estate and private credit and plans to continue investing in these areas. 

That is what Pimco wrote this week in its outlook for the coming years. The asset manager, which invests primarily in bonds, recommends working with flexible mandates in order to be able to make use of the full range of fixed-income opportunities. 

The Luxembourg financial sector has long-discussed the blockchain or as it’s also called “distributed ledger technology (DLT)” as way to strengthen the Luxembourg financial sector. As it was put by Ananda Kautz of Luxembourg’s banks and bankers association the ABBL: “Digital strategy, digital ledger technology, most commonly known as blockchain, has been a key strategic topic for ABBL since many years now.”

In the run-up to the Japanese elections later this month, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to discontinue “Abenomics”. According to him, the economic programme has not led to broader growth. Lodewijk van der Kroft, managing director at Comgest, said investors need not worry about such statements. “This is election rhetoric for the stage, Abenomics will not be thrown out with the rubbish.”

In the 1930s, aeronautical engineer Theodore Paul Wright (1895-1970) made an important discovery during his study of aircraft production. For every doubling of the total number of aircraft produced, the cost of a newly-built aircraft fell by 15 per cent. 

In 1936, he published his findings in the paper “Factors Affecting the Costs of Airplanes”. He described that we learn by doing and therefore the cost per unit produced decreases as the total number of aircraft produced increases. We know this law as Wright’s Law.