Reports and investment research on ETFs and other fund vehicles, including mutual funds, UCITs and white papers on liquid alternatives. Research on liquid alts has received a lot of attention, as institutional investors and FOHFs show increasing interest in the many different types of liquid alternative mutual funds. For hedge funds, alternative UCITs provide another opportunity to expand...
their investor universe. Research on future trends in UCITs has been popular, as have papers on the use of sub-advisers for liquid alternatives. The most popular ETF research includes papers on smart beta ETFs, best practices for ETF trading, Asian ETFs and bond ETFs. Different ETF articles will appeal to different members. For asset allocators seeking to make short-term allocations to an asset class, research providing a cost comparison of futures and ETFs has received many downloads. For DC Plan Sponsors, the question "should ETFs be an investment option in DC plans?" has generated a lot of interest, whereas for Canadian plan sponsors a paper questioning the use of mutual funds in Canadian pensions has proved popular.
The key theme of this year’s report, the ‘S’ pillar of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, is highly pertinent. As politicians and policy makers across the world aim to ‘build back better’, Create-Research and DWS believe they need to take the time to fully understand the social part of ESG.
In their sixth annual study of ETF usage in U.S. insurance general accounts, for the first time S&P Dow Jones Indices analysed the trading of ETFs by insurance companies in addition to the holding analysis. In 2020, insurance companies traded USD 63 billion in ETFs, representing a 10% growth over 2019’s trade volume. On…
Thematic investments promise to harness long-term growth by turning structural, world-changing shifts into potentially compelling investment ideas. They enable investors to link their vision of the world and its evolution directly to their investment strategies. However, the first challenge is the complete absence of a…
Institutional portfolios have been increasing allocations to global real estate (RE) core+ debt, often via a private fund investment vehicle. CIOs managing a multi-asset portfolio with allocations to both liquid and illiquid assets need to evaluate the cash flows from each asset class to better understand their portfolio’s…
While the shift from active to passive investing continues, some mutual funds are being converted to ETFs. Is this a passing trend or does it herald the demise of mutual funds? Mutual funds and ETFs offer different benefits and operational considerations to the investor. In this podcast, Annie Morris, Head of Product…
In this edition of the State of the Street podcast series, State Street experts explore the use of collective investment trusts (CITs) in defined contribution plans.
At the Janus Henderson Global Media Conference, 'New Investment Paradigm: Uncovering Opportunities and Challenges', their senior leaders and key portfolio managers from around the globe shared their insights and outlooks for their markets. In this session, Nick Cherney, Head of Exchange Traded Products, explains why he…
The U.S. retirement market is the world’s largest, valued at nearly $35 trillion in assets compared to $1 trillion just 40 years ago. To attract new capital and increase their exposure to the U.S. retirement market, asset managers are increasingly embracing a highly in demand investment vehicle: collective investment trusts…
What could 2020’s liquidity lessons mean for the insurance investment landscape moving forward? S&P DJI’s Tim Brennan joins State Street Global Advisors’ Ben Woloshin, Citadel’s Katie Stiner, and One America’s Brian Matthews for a closer look at this evolving landscape.
Flows into global gold ETFs were mostly flat in June, with slight inflows of 2.9 tonnes (t) (US$191mn, +0.1% AUM). Inflows into North American and Asian funds were primarily offset by outflows from European funds. Overall, the positive flows came in spite of significant gold price weakness in the latter half of the month on…
Target Date funds and behavioural economics have helped to shape defined contribution (DC) funds.The future of defined contribution retirement savings will always be marked by two key concepts: putting individual investors first when designing plans, and constantly innovating. In these next series of podcasts PGIM will…
This study, 'Benefits of Open Architecture and Multi-Management in Real Estate Markets – Evidence from French Nonlisted Investment Trusts', reviews the risk and return characteristics of Sociétés Civiles de Placement Immobilier (SCPIs), a form of French non-listed real estate funds, to assess whether modern investment…
While the start of 2021 was not as volatile as the start of 2020, insurance companies still used ETFs actively. Using quarterly trading data, S&P Dow Jones Indices analyzed the trades and net flows of ETFs by insurance companies in their general accounts. Although trade volume and net flows were down from Q1 2020,…
Gold registered healthy positive returns for the second consecutive month, erasing the losses accumulated during Q1. Gold ended May at US$1,899.95/oz -- its highest level since January and back above its 200-day moving average – representing a 7.5% month-on-month increase.
The Global X research team is pleased to release the European Thematic UCITS Report for May 2021. The report recaps Global X’s classification system for disruptive themes and the thematic ETFs that track them. It also provides industry-level analysis of thematic investing ETFs, looking at new launches and closures, assets…
The rationale behind the agios of listed Swiss real estate funds is often subject to debate in the investor community. In this paper, UBS AM examines several internal and external factors contributing to premiums to net asset value (NAV) for this asset class.
With continued strong inflows into hedge fund strategies, it is imperative for researchers to study if hedge funds are still worth their high fees. In an updated and comprehensive study covering both North American and Asian hedge funds, the authors find market risk factors explain up to 81% of hedge fund portfolios’…
The gold price rebounded 4.5% on the month, as inflation concerns grew and the U.S. dollar weakened. Gold remains down 6% y-t-d, but has moved up closer to the psychologically important US $1,800/oz level.
In this blog, WisdomTree Investments will show the strong diversification potential of Thematic strategies and how a diversified basket of investment themes could provide long-term growth while controlling for downside risk. When investing strategically in thematics, diversification is key to benefit from the long term…
In this blog,WisdomTree Investments presents a holistic framework to approach fund selection in the thematic space. Their goal is to provide clear steps for understanding which strategy might best represent an investor's conviction in a theme and its underlying story.
