2013 Nobel Prize in economics split three ways

There is no way to predict whether the price of stocks and bonds will go up or down over the next few days or weeks. However, it is quite possible to foresee the broad course of the prices of these assets over longer time periods, such as the next three-to-five years. These findings, which may … Read more

ATP: experiments with alpha and beta

“There is very little pure alpha” said Henrik Jepsen, chief investment officer of ATP, at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Amsterdam when reflecting on the giant Danish fund’s experiences with the return class. The DKK 624-billion ($114-billion) ATP decided to merge the alpha and beta platforms of its investment portfolio earlier this year. This wound … Read more

Copper: Where is the bottom?

For years metals such as aluminium, zinc and nickel have been persistently oversupplied. The copper market, in contrast, has been much tighter, primarily because China needs to import the metal but is largely selfsufficient in other metals. This has seen copper trade at a premium to other base metals and be recognised as a good … Read more

New NAPF chair to build trust in UK pensions

New chairman Ruston Smith’s inaugural speech at the United Kingdom’s National Association of Pension Fund annual conference in Manchester focused on building trust in the pensions industry. Talking about the need to create “pensions people trust to deliver a decent income, pensions people trust to be there when they retire and pensions people trust not … Read more

Negative real interest rates a clear sign of financial repression

Sylvester Eijffinger, a Tilburg University professor and renowned international monetary policy expert said “financial repression is everywhere in the OECD” in a keynote address to the Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Amsterdam. Eijffinger says “the globalisation of monetary policy makes it very hard for emerging economies to shield themselves from these influences”. Eijffinger points to negative … Read more

No sustainability in European equation

Asset owners seeking comfort regarding Europe’s growth prospects had their hopes dashed by an expert panel speaking at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Amsterdam. Recovery in Europe, and with it implications for the stability of global market forces, the investment allocations of investors and the political and social well being of EU residents, is still … Read more