Talking Heads

Until recently, humanity has relied on chemical solutions to address its biggest challenges. For example, our ability to grow food, to defend livestock against disease and to safeguard human health, all depend in part on chemical solutions. Today is no different. Yet resistance to chemicals is rising rapidly, exacerbated by climate change and ecosystem degradation.  In the second of this series, U...

While day-to-day ‘market noise’ may feature big in many investors’ minds, it is worth mining long-term structural trends as well for opportunities. Cloud computing is one such trend, offering many advantages to both public and private sector users of its services and to investors looking for a billion-dollar industry where growth is still in the early stages.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy...

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with Christophe Montcerisier , head of real estate debt, and chief market strategist Daniel Morris. They discuss the absence of a direct and immediate link between higher interest rates and the performance of real estate debt and the defensive characteristics of the asset class. Among other things, its solidity derives from some of the pandemic-induced structur...

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with senior portfolio managers David Favier and Olivier Boutoille and Daniel Morris, chief market strategist. They firstly discuss the current market environment before focusing on the advantages of investing in these floating rate instruments that offer varied risk/returns profiles for investors. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more informatio...

Food security has shot to the top of the agenda for governments and economists, but also investors. The war in Ukraine has highlighted the fragility of cross-border supply chains and countries’ dependence on food imports. More localised production is one potential answer, another is vertical integration to reduce a food company’s vulnerability to the whims of external sources. Hosted on Ausha. See...

The rapid growth in sustainability investing in recent decades has bolstered the need for greater transparency as investors increasingly want to know where and how sustainably their money is invested. MiFID II and other regulations have taken on more of a sustainability focus to improve the flow of information from issuers, distributors and asset managers. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-pol...

In an investment environment laden with challenges from rising interest rates to a possible global slowdown, listed real estate comes with advantageous features such as inflation-resilient cash flows and better liquidity than bricks and mortar. As such, listed real estate is a portfolio diversifier offering investors attractive risk-adjusted returns over the long haul.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha....

Investing with a view to a sustainable future has often focused on environmental and governance issues – the ‘E’ and ‘G’ of ESG. However, the path towards a more inclusive society means social factors should be considered more actively as well, argues Delphine Riou, ESG analyst and Inclusive Growth lead, as she points out the significance of the ‘S’ for social in achieving sustainable corporate pe...

Disruption of supply chains is just one factor investors in new technologies currently have to contend with. A fundamental reevaluation of the outlook for US interest rates and as a consequence, the pricing of growth stocks, is another. Pamela Hegarty, disruptive technology portfolio manager, talks about how the themes she sees shaping future technological trends provide her with reference points...

Private equity impact investing offers investors access to an attractive asset class that can help diversify a portfolio and earn attractive returns. In addition, it offers an extra-financial component by enabling them to contribute – and help finance – solutions to pressing social and environmental problems from access to healthcare to promoting a circular economy.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/...

US small-cap stocks are trading near 10-year lows on various metrics, which disregards their  typical resilience in periods of rising interest rates and slower economic growth.   Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In early March, Chinese policymakers announced economic growth of around 5.5% would be targeted for 2022. Since then, a number of headwinds have led to doubts China’s GDP growth will reach 5%. In this podcast, we explain why we believe Chinese policymakers have both the intention and the means to counter factors potentially slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.   Hosted on Ausha. S...

Value investing remains a worthwhile approach, even after an extended period of underperformance. A rebound has now set in that looks sustainable. Rising interest rates should be supportive of the value style and value still looks cheap relative to growth.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Foreign exchange (FX) markets can be viewed as a derivative asset in that they tend to be driven by volatility in other asset markets. Since 2015, most of the leading currencies have traded in relatively confined ranges. With volatility rising in equity, bond and commodity markets, there are good reasons to expect a new regime in currency markets.   Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for...

Inflation has bounced back vigorously from its pandemic-era lows: The headline rate for the US consumer price index has reached a 40-year high, while in the eurozone, the headline rate for the harmonised index of consumer prices is at its highest in 20 years. What does this mean for investors?  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

To help multi-asset portfolios cope with the geopolitical shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a move into cash can be useful. At BNP Paribas Asset Management, we have implemented such an approach to ride the recent market volatility and use bounces to sell assets whose fortunes have now changed and build or expand other, more defensive positions at attractive prices.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha...

Global bond markets already faced challenging times before the conflict in Ukraine, but they at least had a clear expectation to work with: the prospect of firm central bank action to tackle rising inflation. Geopolitical developments have upended the calculus, undermining inflation and growth forecasts and weakening the fundamentals across the board for the foreseeable future.  Hosted on Ausha. S...

Global markets have seen wide swings as concerns over tighter supplies and crimped trade in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused investors to head for safe havens away from risk assets. However, Guy Davies, chief investment officer for fundamental active equities, advises against impulsive action and argues for a focus on cash flows when picking promising stocks.  For more insights, vis...

Heightened market volatility and uncertainty over the pace at which the ECB will unwind its bond purchases are the main tests investors in European corporate bonds have to contend with currently. Mitigating factors such as robust earnings, strong cash positions and low defaults could be negated by concerns the central bank might need to take tougher action to contain inflation.  Hosted on Ausha. S...

Investing in water-related stocks means tapping into a multi-decade opportunity for growth and innovation. Demand in this segment stretches across the breadth of the economy – from tackling ageing water infrastructure to ensuring healthy drinking water and efficient waste water treatment.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Chinese equities look well set to confront the challenges that Omicron, stricter regulation and moderating growth will bring. Revised earnings expectations and valuations mean their  second-half prospects are brighter. Looser fiscal and monetary policies have the potential to provide a further uplift for sentiment.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In a contrarian call, our emerging market debt team sees appealing opportunities in EM bonds. Specifically in those markets where inflation is likely to peak ahead of developed markets in which investors are having to adjust to the prospect of higher real yields. EM segments that were oversold late last year also represent areas worth investor attention as a recovery takes hold.  Hosted on Ausha....

Our Environmental Strategies Group talk to businesses that, regardless of their size, are making a big impact. In the first of this series we speak to John Berger, CEO of Sunnova Energy International, a residential solar and energy storage company, about the energy transition and the role investors can play in fighting climate change.    Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more inform...

The prospect of a momentous pivot in US monetary policy with gradual withdrawal of the generous provision of liquidity has left markets pondering over valuations. Investors face a challenging year in which they will need to search for assets suited to a new inflationary regime. On our Talking heads podcast,  Daniel Morris , chief market strategist, and Andrew Craig, co-head of the Investment Insig...

To tackle poverty, climate change and improved access to, for example, education, central banks and governments need to rethink fiscal policy and the impact of deficit spending. Trillions of US dollars are required to achieve these goals. Alex Bernhardt , global head of sustainability research, talks about how it could be done.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.