Investment Officer Luxembourg

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. 

Real assets like stocks and real estate are expensive but remain a way to maintain purchasing power. And inflation will remain high. This is BNP Paribas’ outlook as explained by Philippe Gijsels, chief strategist, and Koen De Leus, chief economist.

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 wine world was taken by surprise in 1976: Steven Spurrier, the British wine merchant, had a jury of experts taste a series of French and American wines blind. To everyone’s surprise, the United States won gold twice in the categories of Chardonnay (California vs. Burgundy) and Cabarnet Sauvignon (California vs. Bordeaux).

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.

Qontigo has already built more than ten thousand indices, commissioned by asset owners such as APG and Willis Towers Watson and asset managers such as BlackRock. Institutional investors increasingly want a customised index that is in line with their own investment objectives, according to Arun Singhal of Qontigo.

Investors have a greater need for insight, transparency and control, he explained. “That’s what “we” have in everyday life too. So why not about our investments?”