Viewpoints

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, colloquial expressions are part of our daily life. In this Viewpoint, Senior Analyst Jim Stahl reveals his love of plain English and dislike of jargon-led market commentary. With him we “cut to the chase” to get a clear picture of the US high yield market.

This week, our Emerging Markets experts Luc D’hooge and Adrian Bender gave a portfolio update on our Emerging Markets Debt strategy, elaborated on the main drivers of returns and shared their outlook for the H2 2021.

Inflation is more than just an acceleration of prices; it is bad for economic growth and prosperity. We disagree with consensus that cyclical stocks –financials, industrials and commodities – are the best defense against inflation. Instead a portfolio of quality stocks can be the right approach.

Emerging markets corporate bonds, which naturally includes many Asian ones, is a relatively new asset class. Beyond recognizing the growing importance of the region, few investors consider the asset class when optimizing their portfolios. This overlooks many opportunities, especially if you can navigate the Asian corporate bond market with an experienced active manager that has an eye for the essential.

The trend is your friend, the saying goes. But it’s important to really know your friends – some of them you’ll never see again, others will stay with you for a lifetime. We believe the megatrends we focus on, and the resulting investment themes such as smart farming, robotics or cloud computing, will be the ones that will last.

10 million lab animals undergo tests with severe pain each year. Over time, companies have aligned with customers. The near-term exit for lab animals relies on regulators. A 2021 breakthrough in China shows progress. But the underlying driver is remarkable advances in technology. Management views and outlook in this blog.

Italian corporate bonds are set for a summer renaissance, believes Head of Corporate Credit Mondher Bettaieb. In this Viewpoint, Mondher and team explain why now is the time to take a look at Italian corporate credit.

Previously considered a niche strategy, quality investing is popular today for a simple reason – it has worked. While there are many nuances of quality, we focus on what may become more relevant in stock selection as the economy reopens, and we avoid those that are shades of quality.

European equities have lagged the US for more than a decade. But there are reasons to believe that Europe can outperform again: The benchmark is now more exposed to higher growth companies, valuations are attractive, macro reforms have mitigated risks and Europe is leading the way in ESG.