Global Small Caps: Unlocking value through governance engagements in Japan
In recent years we have intensified our active ownership approach with Japanese companies, aiming to boost capital efficiency, improve governance structures and enhance shareholder returns.
Iran’s oil shock puts the Teflon-market thesis to the test
Markets enter the week facing not simply another geopolitical headline, but the prospect of a structural energy repricing. After US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and Tehran retaliated across the region, investors are bracing for a sharp adjustment in oil and gas markets when trading resumes. The issue is no longer whether risk premia rise, but how disruptive and persistent they may become. “The implications for energy markets and commodities, especially for crude oil and LNG flows, are asymmetric and could trigger severe market reactions very soon,” said Cyril Widdershoven, a senior advisor at Blue Water Strategies.
Chart of the week: the outlines of a new credit bubble
AI is not a bubble by definition. But the investment wave surrounding it is. The first hairline cracks are now clearly visible, and comparisons with the run-up to the global financial crisis are becoming hard to dismiss.
Washington is rewinding the clock on investor protection
Washington is rewinding the clock on investor protection. Under chair Paul Atkins, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rolled back a series of rules, scaled back enforcement and curtailed shareholder rights. According to former senior counsel Benjamin Schiffrin, who spent nearly two decades at the agency, the regulator is now siding more with Wall Street than with investors.
Morningstar: Blackrock vs Pimco in global diversified bond strategies
Over the 12 months to February 2026, the US dollar weakened by 12.6 percent against the euro, a move mirrored across several emerging-markets currencies, including the Brazilian real, South African rand, Mexican peso and Malaysian ringgit. This currency shift has pushed managers in the Morningstar Global Bond – Diversified category toward local-currency emerging-markets debt to capture both rate differentials and currency appreciation.
In a tense Fixed Income market, where are the opportunities still to be found?
After several years marked by significant rate volatility, the environment is becoming more readable. However, while inflation has stabilized, certain external factors could influence the monetary trajectory.
The biggest threat to the euro is the ECB
On the eve of the recent meeting of EU leaders on how to make the European economy more innovative, more competitive, and less dependent on foreign countries, participants were sent a note from the European Central Bank (ECB). In it, the bank outlined what it considers desirable policy to achieve those goals.
Software selloff drives repricing in Europe’s loan markets
Artificial intelligence has unsettled software stocks for months. Now it is testing European credit markets and exposing fault lines in parts of private credit that were sold to investors as stable and uncorrelated. “If the software issue remains isolated, markets can cope. If it bleeds into the real economy, then all bets are off.”
Candriam lowers ESG standards to allow defense companies
Candriam is lowering the ESG bar for two major funds. This is intended to make investments in “selected defense companies” possible.
The global economy appears poised to accelerate
Despite disappointing US Gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, the global economy appears poised to accelerate, note Guy Wagner and his team in their latest monthly market report "Highlights".