Incisive Views from Professionals
By Kier Boley, Chairperson of the GAM AIS Investment Committee Alternative industry trends As we begin 2018, global asset prices have continued their inexorable grind higher. There is increasing unease from investors on the length and extent of the current rally, whilst central banks are increasingly on a rate tightening trajectory. As a result, […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management March concluded a volatile quarter across financial markets, as modest headline moves in many cases belied significant intra-quarter risk reversals and choppiness. The MSCI World index closed down 0.2% for the quarter against a very steep sell-off through 11 February, followed by a reversal and strong rally into the end […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management As year-end approaches, we look ahead to the outlook for active trading and hedge funds in 2016. The choppy waters of 2015 has proved challenging for active managers. Both equities and global bonds are down this year to date as measured by the MSCI World index and the Barclays Global […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management Global themes regained strength in May: global macro and event driven managers led the hedge fund pack May proved a choppy month across asset classes with investor attention focused on issues such as US growth concerns and the Greek solvency question. The US Dollar index was up 2.4%, US […] Read more »
By Global Asset Management Although the MSCI World index declined 1.8% in March, the real story was about equity dispersion, currencies and central bank policy. In equities, dispersion of returns by geography continued in March, with equities rallying in China, Europe and Japan while selling off in the US. In currencies, the US dollar […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management Global equity markets continued on their upward trend from mid-October, finishing November up 2.1%, as measured by the MSCI World index in US dollars. US Treasuries and core European bonds also rallied. Against this backdrop, coupled with a strong US dollar and downward trending oil prices, hedge funds performed positively. […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management Global markets were volatile in October with equities, credit and bond yields broadly selling-off in the first half of the month before reversing course and rallying into month-end. This volatility and choppiness proved challenging for many investors, including hedge funds, with most cutting their risk by mid-month and therefore not […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management September proved a challenging month for many investors as equities, bonds and credit sold off. The MSCI World index was down 2.7%, while the Barclays Global Aggregate Bond index lost 2.8%. Global macro hedge funds delivered 1.5%, while the broader hedge fund universe was down 0.8%, as measured by the […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management Markets recovered their July losses, with the MSCI World index up 2.2% in August, while the reach for yield resumed with the Barclays US Aggregate Bond index rallying 1.1% and US high yield credit up 1.6% (IBOXX HY index). Hedge funds overall posted gains in August with the HFRX Global […] Read more »
From Global Asset Management Asset prices rallied in June across equities, bonds, credit and most commodities. Hedge funds performed positively with the HFRX Global Hedge Fund index up 0.9% for the month and each of the four main hedge fund strategies also posting gains, as measured by the respective HFRX strategy indices in US dollar […] Read more »