The $109 billion Florida Retirement System Pension Plan remains in its rosy position as one of the US’ best performing funds, exercising its scale to effect with a total expense ratio of 32 basis points for the financial year 2009-10. (more…)

Following the Fed’s announcement of QE2 and the recent auction of 5-year TIPS  that resulted in the first-ever negative yield issuance (-0.55%), AQR has updated its recent research series on inflation. This paper addresses the events which resulted in the first-ever negative yield TIPS issuance, discusses the future impact of government actions, and comments on the implication for institutional investors. (more…)

Based on a methodology introduced in 1927 to analyse human skulls and later applied to turbulence in financial markets, this study by Mark Kritzman and Yuanzhen Li, published in the Financial Analysts Journal, shows how to use a statistically derived measure of financial turbulence to measure and manage risk and to improve investment performance. (more…)

November 2010
In the first of a (brief) monthly video address editor of conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com, Amanda White, observes the common challenges facing institutional investors around the globe.

A group of more than 250 institutional investors has damned individual country national policies, particularly highlighting inadequacies in the US, as preventing more private capital flowing into climate change-related investments. The collaborative stance comes ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico. (more…)

Reflecting on 40 years in the investment industry, founder of Ennis Knupp & Associates and executive editor of the FAJ, Richard Ennis, tells Amanda White why the investment consulting industry is at risk of becoming a distribution arm for the money management industry. (more…)