A lot of ink has poured into the discussion of an inverted yield curve, and what it means, yet I am still unsure if people understand whether an inverted yield curve is a precursor of a recession or not. The fear of an inverted yield curve relates to historical evidence, which shows that an inverted […]
With pension portfolios continuing to diversify globally, the practical and political decisions made by heads of state matter to institutional investors more than ever. But it’s a tall order to measure the risks around these decisions. In response to increasing demand for reliable data, Sustainalytics is revamping its risk ratings system for sovereign fixed income […]
The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension plans hit $1.97 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of five per cent from the last quarter of 2018, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Year over year, the market value of assets rose 3.6 per cent. The total includes assets […]
Rewind to August 2015. The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Pension Plan was underfunded on both a solvency and going-concern basis, at 43.7 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively. Fast forward to year-end 2018 and it sits at a healthy 101.7 per cent on a going-concern basis. The turnaround stems from substantial changes to governance, […]
As the likelihood of a new Italian coalition government continues to solidify, institutional investors are watching the country’s extremely volatile bond markets. The hard-left Five Star Movement and centre-left Democratic Party have joined forces to avoid snap elections, which would have strongly reinforced the power of Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League party, says Stephane Dutu, director […]
Canadian public companies are increasing the discount rates they use for their defined benefit pension plans, according to a new survey by Morneau Shepell Ltd. The survey of 90 Canadian public companies found the median discount rate — the interest rate the pension plan uses to determine the current value of its anticipated future benefits […]
During the past decade’s bull market, gold has been largely off the radar for institutional investors. But as key bond yields turn negative, among other recessionary signals, chatter about the commodity is heating up. “All precious metals have no correlation to the rest of the marketplace so that tends to be why gold and precious […]
While emerging markets have been underperforming their developed counterparts over the past decade, this may be about to change. “Basically, everything went wrong in emerging markets in the last 10 years,” said Laurence Bensafi, deputy head of emerging markets equity at RBC Global Asset Management Inc., in a webinar hosted by the Association of Canadian Pension Management […]
On Aug. 13, after Argentina’s primary elections took a different direction than markets expected, the country’s stocks suffered one of the most dramatic crashes in global history. “It was a super unusual reaction,” says Jim Barrineau, head of emerging market debt at Schroders Investment Management Ltd. He notes the market crash was especially bizarre because […]
Imagine lending money to someone and having to pay for the privilege of doing so. Or being asked to invest and informed of how much money you’ll lose. Sounds absurd, but increasingly that’s the global bond market these days. A rising share of government and corporate bonds are trading at negative interest yields — a […]