Best Blogs of the Week

Best Blogs of the Week #214

Posted by Anu Heda on Jan 11, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Welcome to 2016. We saw decent activity over the holidays with some very well-written year in review and 2016 forecasts throughout the asset management industry.

BlackRock – What I Got Right (and Wrong) in 2015 – I didn’t consider that investors would have to pay Germany for the privilege of loaning it money for five years.

JPMorgan – 5 Realistic Surprise Predictions for 2016 – Brazilian local debt returns 40+%

WisdomTree – Major Central Banks Policy Implications for 2016 – … in assessing China’s growth potential, many focus on old economy indicators and miss out on newer economy signals.

Two other posts were excellent in supporting intermediary and institutional investors.

BlackRock – A Strategy for Managing Volatile Markets –  … we like it or not, emotions tend to drive many investment decisions and this often causes investors to buy high and sell low, which is the very opposite that we need to be doing.

Russell – Exploring the risks and challenges of generating yield – When evaluating strategies, it’s essential to consider where yield is coming from and ensure that potential risks are managed appropriately.

Best Blogs of the Week – #213

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 28, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

As the week wound down towards a Christmas Friday so too did the industry’s blog posts. We highlight two posts from last week.

BlackRock – What You Should Know About Convertible Bonds – To illustrate the comparison of a convertible bond’s price to its common stock price, we look at conversion parity, which is the value you would receive if converted to stocks today.

Peritus – High Yield Bonds: The Energy Dilemma – The concern about energy in the high yield market is appropriate for the index and products that track them as this is a large component of the indexes.

Best Blogs of the Week #212

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 21, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

The investment management news is full of reactions to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s FOMC rate increase. Below are five high-quality views and my opinion on why to read each.

BlackRock – Why the Fed’s Rate Increase is Good (Not Bad) News – Read because you’re seeking to understand how this rate and situation is different than previous ones.

Invesco – Fed hikes 25 basis points, signals gradual path – Read because you need succinct next steps for you and your clients’ portfolios.

Wells Fargo – How today’s Fed rate hike affects investors – Read because you’re most interested in a macroeconomic viewpoint.

WisdomTree – What happens When Interest Rates Rise? – Read because you want, no you need, the data

Vanguard – Don’t let rising rates get you down – Read because you’re an index investor that gets all the news on rising rates from Bloomberg, WSJ, NYTimes and want input on rates and bond portfolios

Best Blogs of the Week #211

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 14, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

Two posts stood out today as they both simplify concepts that can be opaque or difficult.

Putnam – Shedding Light on Alternatives – The four objectives that we have identified, like the efforts of rating agencies such as Morningstar and Lipper to define categories for comparative purposes, help to make the world of alternatives a little easier to navigate.

Vanguard – The Returns Roller Coaster –  Vanguard Investment Strategy Group performed a simulated analysis of similar hire/fire behavior using the universe of active funds.

Best Blogs of the Week #210

Posted by Anu Heda on Dec 07, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

We took a few weeks between posts but the industry didn’t stop. I counted 70+ posts between 11/29 and 12/5. I’m capturing six here as worthy reading.

Invesco – Four Key Reasons To consider Market Neutral – The Invesco Quantitative Strategies team believes one potential way to buffer the effects of market downturns, volatility and rising interest rates is to add market neutral equity strategies to traditional portfolios, as they potentially offer a unique approach to generating return regardless of the general movements of the equity and bond markets.

Russell – New best practices are emerging for company stock in DC plans – There’s a new world of DC plans, in which the auto-features and choice architecture are the order of the day. In this new world, it’s reasonable to expect that the company stock option will play a diminished role.

Wells Fargo – Why china’s five-Year Plan Is Good For Investors – China’s new five-year plan isn’t growth at all costs; it’s about sustainability. In the past, growth at all costs meant a buying binge of commodities, building cities without residents, and producing air that wasn’t fit to be inhaled.

Impact Investing Posts  

 BlackRock  Russell TIAA-CREF 
 What’s In Your Impact Fund?  Sustainability Reporting  Responsible Investing