Investing

The current inflation surge is similar to the one after World War II. It then took two years for inflation to cool. Long-term interest rates should start to rise, according to the online Outlook 2022 conference organised by Candriam. Anton Brender and Florence Pisani, both economists, conducted the webinar.

Quintet Private Bank has become more positive on Asia, both strategically and tactically. In the short term, the bank said that it believes that Asian high yield bonds currently offer better risk-adjusted returns than either China or Asian equities. The bank’s Bill Street said this on Tuesday during an outlook presentation and in a reply to additional questions from Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication.

For five years, a group of students from Erasmus University in combination with three Robeco researchers scoured hundreds of financial newspapers from 1866 to 1926. They looked for prices, dividends and market capitalisations of almost 1500 American shares. Based on the entirely new dataset this led to, Robeco now concludes that the momentum, value and volatility (beta) investment factors also existed during those 61 years. 

Just a few weeks after the UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, one of the European Commission’s most important initiatives in recent years is under fire: the “EU Taxonomy”. The reason is a number of EU Member States that want to admit natural gas - and even nuclear energy - to the list of green energy sources. Europe suddenly risks becoming “the laggard of the world”, critics have warned.

Saxo’s traditional “Outrageous predictions” for 2021 were right on target, suggesting an extreme rise in inflation in 2021. For next year, the bank is betting on a 15 per cent inflation rate in the US through wage-price spirals. What other self-styled outrageous, striking, bizarre predictions does Saxo have in store for next year? 

The base case for AG is one of “normalisation of the economy”, moving from a recovering economy to strong GDP growth, rising purchasing power and increased investment, while keeping admittedly higher inflation under control, according to the 2022 Outlook hosted online by AG Insurance and hosted by chief strategist Olivier Colsoul (pictured) and CIO Wim Vermeir.

Luxembourg’s real estate investment sector has recovered strongly from the economic slowdowns caused by the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures released in the Association of the Luxembourg Fund industry’s (ALFI)  15th annual Luxembourg real estate investment funds survey. (Full version link below.) 

Luxembourg is by far the leading EU domicile for environmental funds, according to a new report by PwC. Assets under management in green funds in the Grand Duchy are greater than the combined totals of the next three largest domiciles for these products. This article explains why this might be so.

US politicians will have to raise the debt ceiling again on 15 December to avert the first ever default on US obligations. A so-called “default” puts at risk payment obligations such as interest on debt. Investors are getting very nervous about this. 

“The equity market is moving towards a bubble”, said Jeroen Blokland said during the annual Fondsnieuws Investment Outlook, organised by Investment Officer Luxembourg’s Dutch sister publication. High valuations and exaggerated growth expectations make the probability of corrections in 2022 very high. This statement did not meet with unanimous approval. According to Edin Mujagic, chief economist at OHV Asset Management, this is in fact the ideal environment for equities.