Shelter from the Storms: Diversification and Opportunity for Pensions in Insurance-Linked Securities

The importance of portfolio diversification gained new currency following the down market of 2022, which showcased the frailties of the traditional 60/40 portfolio and left many investors scrambling for protection. For pension funds looking to meet this need, we believe insurance-linked securities (ILS) can be a good fit. While implementation and benchmarking are less straightforward […]

October 2023

Strategic Investor Engagement: Driving Stewardship for a Net Zero Future

To accelerate net zero objectives, investors are well placed to leverage their voice as asset owners through stewardship and engagement activities with investments not aligned with a net zero pathway. Climate-related engagement can yield significant positive outcomes, and there are multiple ways to engage depending on an investor’s capacity and resources. Recent research shows that […]

October 2023

Key Central Bank Policy Rates Approach Cyclical Peak

Over the past two weeks, central banks in the United States, United Kingdom, euro area, and Japan have all held monetary policy meetings. The communications following these meetings retained a hawkish bias, suggesting further policy tightening may be necessary—except for the Bank of Japan (BOJ)—however, additional interest rate hikes will likely be much less frequent […]

September 2023

Do Recent Upward Revisions to the United Kingdom's GDP Mean the Outlook Is Brighter?

No. Although GDP revisions showing that the UK economy recovered more quickly and strongly from the COVID-19 period than was initially thought are welcome, the country faces headwinds to growth in the coming quarters. We continue to recommend holding UK equities at benchmark weights. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently released revisions to historical […]

September 2023

Does Fitch’s Recent Ratings Downgrade of US Sovereign Debt Change Our View on Treasuries?

No, we continue to believe investors should hold US Treasuries in line with policy allocations. While the recent decision by Fitch Ratings to downgrade the sovereign credit rating of the United States added upward pressure on Treasury yields, we do not expect it will have a lasting impact. Looking forward, growing fiscal deficits and increased […]

August 2023

Is Now a Good Time to Invest in the Energy Transition?

Yes, the transition to a low-carbon economy is producing a myriad of productive ways to put capital to work. Considerable capital will be needed to fund the massive investment required over coming decades. Investors looking to maximize impact should invest in strategies that lean into recent policy initiatives (e.g., the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA]) and […]

August 2023

VantagePoint: Investing in a Low-Carbon Future

The transition to a low-carbon economy consistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming requires ambitious technological advancements and continued scaling of existing technologies. Such a massive economic transition by 2050, with meaningful progress by 2030, would be unprecedented but is not impossible, with adequate focus and funding. Indeed, significant progress has been […]

July 2023

Is China’s Economy Stalling?

No. Economic growth in China is likely to reach 5% this year, which is in line with government targets and consensus forecasts. Following a stronger-than-expected first quarter, recent economic data has softened, disappointing investor expectations of a sharper recovery after last year’s COVID-19 lockdown, but the Chinese economy is not on the verge of relapsing […]

June 2023