Global flow data shows investor caution
Institutional investors have taken their feet off the gas, with the latest data from State Street Global Markets showing a “neutral” reading for cross-border flows and consensus views on global markets.
Conflict in Iran: Investors mute the noise but inflation risk grows
Investors are watching conflict in the Middle East closely as inflationary pressures begin to build beneath the surface. One of the challenges for many investors is reduced exposure to the hedging benefits of fossil fuels in listed, and private markets.
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CalPERS reviews consultant requirements as it goes to tender
CalPERS has expanded the scope of services required by its primary pension consultant, including the provision of more strategic advice and better communication between board and staff, as part of an RFP for a general consultant to be released in December. The contract with Wilshire Associates, the fund’s consultant since 1983, is due to expire
CPPIB chief calls for infrastructure privatisation
The chief executive of the C$117 billion ($111 billion) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, David Denison, has urged the Canadian government to keep pace with the privatisation of assets in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Australia and to some extent the US, as it looks to increase beyond the combined $16.1 billion already invested
Maryland moves to strategic allocations profiting private equity and commodities
The $32 billion Maryland State Retirement System is searching for advisers in real estate and private equity, as it moves toward its strategic asset allocation target that sits signficantly distant from its actual investments at the end of September, requiring a quadrupling of its private equity investments and new allocations to real return assets.
No discount for alpha
Just because the BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors merger will create a global funds management behemoth – with $3 trillion under management and 9,000 employees in 24 countries – does not mean alpha will come more cheaply. Amanda White spoke to vice chair of BlackRock, Robert Fairbairn, about what the merger means for products, clients and the
In defence of optimisation
Sebastien Page, senior managing director of the portfolio and risk management group at State Street Associates is excited about his upcoming paper “In Defense of Optimization: The Fallacy of 1/N”, which responds to the increasingly popular notion that equal weighted portfolios outperform. He spoke with Amanda White about the “1/N paper”, and how he advises
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