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IGM Credit
DOWN BUT NOT OUT FEBRUARY 2021 - February issuance volumes slowed after a blow-out January. - This is usual after the January funding rush and amidst earnings blackout periods. - Long Lunar New Year holidays in China in part also dampened issuance volumes. - However, with US Treasury yields breaking fresh highs, issuers were also enticed to fund sooner than later. - IGM metrics tracked show investor appetite remaining particularly strong for investment grade issuances.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world, sometimes radically, and will continue to do so for years to come. One of clearest examples of this change is the way environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles are becoming central to the policy debates and choices being made in most developed economies. This shift from the wings to center stage was already underway when the pandemic struck. But it has accelerated so fast that few doubt the global reflation that markets anticipated later this year will, for perhaps the first time, be shaped to a significant degree by the tenets of ESG. With this shift, however, comes some painful realities for advocates of ESG. As the father of New York’s current governor famously observed, policymakers tend to campaign in poetry but must govern in prose. That means being held responsible for policies that may generate short-term pain in pursuit of the greater good...
Topic Industry News
Zephyr Portfolio Analytics
The Federal Reserve (Fed) continues to stand by its accommodative policies by stressing that the labor market remains well below pre-pandemic levels with some 10 million people remaining jobless. The February jobs report will be released on Friday and it will be widely watched as it remains the weakest part of the U.S. economy and one of the primary drivers behind the dovish Fed. Will a stronger than expected report push Treasury yields higher, while placing additional pressure on stocks due to concerns that inflation will be here sooner than expected and force the Fed’s hand? Or will we continue to see a labor market that is well below its natural levels?
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
For Chinese citizens the Year of the Ox began on February 12. Horoscopes for this year say it is a good one for building up reserves and making long-term investments. During the week ending Feb. 24 investors appeared to be taking this to heart. China Bond Funds set a new weekly inflow record and China Equity Funds posted their second largest inflow since EPFR started tracking them while flows into Hong Kong Equity Funds hit a 24-week high.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
When readers of this blog were young, their bedtime fare probably included tales featuring dragons and the people who either slew or bonded with them. As they grew older, their parents likely told them tales about a mythical sounding but real scourge: inflation and its evil twin stagflation. Read more here…
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
Investors poured another $27.8 billion into EPFR-tracked Equity Funds during the week ending Feb. 17, with Emerging Markets, SRI/ESG and Global Equity Funds posting inflows for the sixth, 28th and 35th consecutive week respectively, as investors continue to position themselves for a global reflation story with green characteristics. That reflation may also come with unexpectedly high levels of inflation, especially in the US, remains a concern for some investors. Convertible Bond Funds set their second inflow record in as many weeks, Bank Loan Bond Funds extended their longest run of inflows since 3Q18 and Inflation Protected Bond Funds absorbed fresh money for the 50th time in the past 55 weeks. While Equity Funds with socially responsible (SRI) or environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandates enjoyed another solid week, SRI/ESG Bond Funds posted their second consecutive weekly inflow record and -- in relative terms -- are outgaining their equity counterparts for the first time since August.
Topic Industry News
Digital Banking Hub, Digital Banking Research
Ensuring Travel Card Reward Schemes remain relevant during the pandemic How do Travel Card Reward Schemes remain relevant when travel is not only restricted, but completely banned in some areas of the world? In reviewing the digital developments of 25 U.S. providers, our Senior Analyst, Gina DeCorla, has pulled together this blog that examines just that, through: - Changing points systems to favor “lockdown leisure” activities vs. travel - Temporary reward schemes for grocer, gas, and other spending - The offer of lifetime travel points to be redeemed once travel resumes In this 4-minute blog, Gina shows real examples of how these updates have been implemented by providers including American Express, Chase, Wells Fargo.
Topic Industry News Digital Banking
Zephyr Portfolio Analytics
The headline economic release during the holiday shortened week will be the January retail sales report. Consumer spending is the primary driver of economic growth, so retail sales is a very important indicator of economic and consumer health, and one that has experienced large swings since the pandemic started. We have entered the later stages of the Q4 earnings seasons, but there remains some big names yet to release. WalMart releases earnings as does Deere & Company which tends to be a good proxy for economic growth...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
The week ending February 10 saw key US equity indexes hit record highs as another sub-par jobs report for January boosted hopes of a third major stimulus package since the COVID-19 pandemic hit a year ago. Visions of another $1.9 trillion cascading through the US economy – and spilling over into those of major trading partners – also boosted flows into Equity Funds, which posted their biggest weekly total since EPFR started tracking them.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
It feels like a long time, but it was only three years ago when the VIX index, the benchmark for measuring market volatility, hit an all-time intraday low of 8.56. Although CBOE noted that it was a glitch, and November 27, 2017 ended with the VIX well above 9, it highlighted the degree to which volatility had gone AWOL. That was reinforced six days later when the historical realized volatility of the S&P 500 index recorded its all-time low of 6.87. Although investors were slow to accept the fact, as the chart below shows, volatility had by then been declining for the better part of a decade in the face of massive quantitative easing spearheaded by the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan. This involved the provision of enormous liquidity, slashing interest rates to zero -- or below -- and the consistent issuance of strong verbal forward guidance aimed at suppressing volatility. Because volatility is a very important input in most of the traditional models for asset pricing and portfolio construction, this has created significant questions and challenges for investors and money managers. In this blog we look at two of these questions. First, is volatility returning? Second, if it is, what is the best way to measure it? Read more here…
Topic Industry News
Zephyr Portfolio Analytics
The headline economic data release during the upcoming week will be the consumer price index (CPI). Inflation is in the crosshairs of many investment professionals as the Fed continues to reiterate its accommodative policy while the likelihood for additional fiscal stimulus grows. Furthermore, the reopening of the economy and pent-up demand may also boost inflation. Policy makers are walking a fine line as they must be careful that their policies do not accelerate inflation to a point where it’s hard to rein it in. It is another busy week for blue chip earnings releases lead by Walt Disney, Cisco Systems, CocaCola, and Pepsico...
Topic Industry News
Digital Banking Hub, Digital Banking Research
Leveraging data from our recently published Retail Checking Desktop Servicing Report, our FBX Research Manager, Lisa Andersson, has compiled three key desktop banking trends as a result of financial institutions adjusting to new customer behaviours and managing the reduction of in-person channels, in the face of recent events, including: - More accessible Help and Support - Self-service for more journeys - Focus on engagement features In this 5-minute blog, Lisa shows real examples of how these trends are being realized by leading providers including Bank of America, Huntington, Simple, TD Bank and Wells Fargo.
Topic Digital Banking Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
Retail efforts to squeeze real and perceived institutional short positions dominated the headlines for the second week running in early February. EPFR-tracked Silver Funds were carried along for the ride, setting a new inflow record during a week when retail investors switched their attention from GameStop shares and pushed the price of the precious metal up to an eight-year high. Retail investors also steered significant amounts of money towards fund groups offering exposure to the global reflation story expected during second half of the year, when better weather and widespread vaccination programs give consumers the scope to unleash more than a year’s worth of pent-up demand. Global Equity Funds posted retail inflows for the 24th time in the past 26 weeks and Technology Sector Funds – which also set a new inflow mark -- for the 40th time since the beginning of 2Q20 while China Equity Funds absorbed fresh retail money for the 33rd consecutive week. There was less interest during the latest week in hedging against the inflation this anticipated surge in demand could bring, with flows to Inflation Protected and Bank Loan Funds moderating, and more interest in picking up yield by way of exposure to junk bonds, emerging markets and municipal debt and total return strategies. Overall, the week ending February 3 saw EPFR-tracked Bond Funds post their biggest collective inflow since early October while Alternative Funds took in $866 million, Balanced Funds $916 million and Equity Funds $9 billion. Outflows from Money Market Funds hit a year-to-date high of over $30 billion, with Europe Money Market Funds experiencing their heaviest redemptions since late 1Q20.
Topic Industry News
Digital Banking Hub, Digital Banking Research
As life has become more remote and keyboard driven, days have become more challenging and constraining. What is striving in this economy is the digital economy and the space in between. The world has flipped upside down, however, there are rays of hope from new technologies, discoveries in medicine, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the cryptocurrency space.
Topic Industry News
Zephyr Portfolio Analytics
The headline event for the week ahead will be the January jobs report released on Friday. The momentum in the labor market came to a halt during the later stages of 2020 following a strong rebound during the summer and fall months. People will be watching the January report as vaccinations are being rolled out, but the number of cases continued to climb. The Q4 earnings season has started off strong, with another busy week ahead. The highlights will come from two of the most popular names for investors - Amazon.com and Alphabet...
Topic Industry News
23 Mar 2021 , 09:00
UK
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