aberdeen

Best Blogs of the Week #275

Posted by Anu Heda on Aug 21, 2017, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Formats matter in blog posts. This week I highlight three important blog components. Not shockingly, high-quality posts have:

  1. an excellent title
  2. at least 1 compelling or different graphic
  3. high-quality, concise writing

 

Best title comes from…

… Aberdeen for “Week in review: White House meltdown”

A compelling chart from …

… M&G for “Be wary of our obsession with anniversaries”

formats

High-quality writing comes from …

… Invesco for “Global fixed income: What market threats lie ahead?” with this

  • The good: The synchronized global cyclical upswing will likely continue, in our view. This would mean good growth with inflation generally below major central banks’ targets — a situation that would encourage policy normalization but without too much tightening.
  • The bad: In the longer term, however, the trends don’t look as positive. Adverse demographics and low productivity growth are likely to restrict economic growth prospects in developed and emerging markets.
  • The ugly: Key political and policy threats in the US, Europe and China represent downside risks to the current cyclical upswing.

 

Best Blogs of the Week #272

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 25, 2017, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Solely one blog post to include this week to discuss the impact of market-weighted and factor-based ETFs

Invesco – Are smart beta ETFs skewing stock valuations? – Despite the growth of smart beta, market-cap-weighted strategies still account for the vast majority of ETF ownership. Those ETFs do not have the rules-based mechanisms cited by critics as contributing to herding behavior.

 

Market-Weighted

 

Best Blogs of the Week #271

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 17, 2017, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

AB – Five Ways Populism Could Impact Investors – A greater willingness to use fiscal stimulus alone has the potential to lift inflation, particularly because central banks are likely to keep interest rates low to ease the process. Against this background, populism could make a stronger political case for aggressively pursuing growth, which would increase inflationary pressures.

Aberdeen – All aboard the gloom train? – The OBR has undertaken a “stress test” of the public finances to model the effects of an economic downturn. The result? A resounding fail. Describing the potential fiscal effects as “severe,” the OBR warned that the deficit would rapidly rise in the event of a recession. And Brexit could well make things worse. The OBR noted that even a small drop-off in economic activity could have a big impact on the public purse. In comparison with a fall in Britain’s underlying growth rate caused by reduced European trade, any “divorce bill” paid to the European Union (EU) would pale into insignificance.

American Century – Impact Investing: Making Good With Your Money – Impact investing can be summed up as investing to make a difference, or to be a financial force for good. How that good happens is where descriptions start to diverge.

impact

 

Best Blogs of the Week #261

Posted by Anu Heda on Feb 20, 2017, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Quality posts from the last two weeks, led by a captivating post on trade wars.

Aberdeen – Week in review: The return of inflation – Inflation is back. Figures released this week on both sides of the Atlantic painted a picture of rising prices – and the possibility of an end to the days of ultra-low price increases. The UK’s consumer prices index was 1.8% in January – its highest level since June 2014.

BlackRock – Will tax reform hurt tax-exempt bonds? – By our estimates, the market might need to offer some 15 basis points (front end) to 50 basis points (long end) in higher yield to compensate for the reduced tax benefit.

William Blair – Trade Wars: Is Trump Bluffing? – The key is he put a lot of things forward. It creates uncertainty for trade and we don’t know how far he’ll push the actual negotiations, especially with respect to China. This uncertainty will need to be considered when building a portfolio.

Trade Star Wars