Adding private markets can increase overlap in risk exposure
Investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and reduce dependence on traditional equity indices are increasingly turning to private markets. However, through their public holdings they already have exposure to those same markets. The additional costs associated with private funds do not structurally deliver higher returns.
Private equity shifts pressure to retail investors
Private equity’s model is coming under strain as exits slow, capital remains tied up, and investors are waiting longer for distributions. Rather than resolving these pressures, the industry is increasingly passing them on to individual investors, said Lucas Crasborn, chief investment officer at Optimix Vermogensbeheer, an independent wealth manager overseeing around 2.5 billion euros.
Morningstar: Schroders versus T. Rowe Price in global equities
Equities are off to a volatile start in 2026. While initial optimism around the AI capex boom continued to support global equity markets, a rotation into cyclical sectors, value, and non-US stocks helped broaden the rally.
Asset owners push asset managers back into net zero alliance
Asset owners representing 3.7 trillion dollars in capital sent a clear message to their asset managers at the end of January: stay committed to net zero. Demand for climate strategies among institutional investors in Europe remains firmly intact.
Higher rates weigh on EMD more than geopolitics
The unrest in the Middle East has affected Emerging Market Debt (EMD) through rising rates and higher risk premiums. There is no indication, for now, of a structural deterioration in credit risk.
Oversubscription of bond issuances creates a snowball effect
The fact that some bond issuances are now oversubscribed by as much as ten times illustrates how sharply market sentiment has shifted. After more than a decade of interest rates close to zero, bonds in the eurozone are once again offering returns, around 3 to 4 percent for investment grade.
Iran conflict hits Miran’s housing assumption
The conflict between the US and Iran is hitting the core of the Federal Reserve’s rate strategy. The one factor that was keeping rate cuts alive, falling housing costs, is now under pressure. Fed governor Stephen Miran’s bet that housing costs would keep falling fast enough to justify lower Fed rates is now being tested in the worst possible way.
Europe is the biggest victim of the war against Iran
The war against Iran has now lasted a month, and the consequences are becoming visible at a rapid pace. The conflict began as an American-Israeli operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program and the regime in Tehran. But while the United States and Israel are dropping bombs, Europe is absorbing the heaviest economic blows. The result of decades of failed European energy policy, strategic dependency, and a lack of geopolitical power.
New EU rules raise the bar for ESG rating providers
A sweeping new EU regulation for ESG rating providers is set to reshape a market that Morningstar Sustainalytics has helped build, consolidating a fragmented industry and raising the compliance bar significantly.
SEC chair calls earlier crypto approach ‘a brake on innovation’
Now that the US SEC has placed most digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, outside its oversight, chair Paul Atkins said the “brake on innovation” that the market watchdog had become under Gary Gensler is disappearing.