Market Snapshot
Oil shock weighs on India outlook
MDT: How we seek to enhance our alpha model
At MDT Advisers, we are systematic, quantitative investors; underlying all of our work is our alpha model. What underlies the alpha model itself? Intuition and research. Our model didn’t arrive fully formed like Athena, of course, nor will it remain fixed. Instead, we use a rigorous research process to review the model’s output. The goal […]
Consider currency correlation
Video transcript 00:10How has the US dollar reacted to the Iran conflict? Prior to February 27th, there was really very little going on (with) the US dollar. Actually, on an index measurement, the dollar was flat. It actually rendered a negative .08% return, which is as flat as you can get. Bond markets actually were […]
The presence of absence
Before I give my monthly remarks, my colleague Susan Hill, head of our Government Liquidity Group, covers the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting: Will he stay or will he go? The answer for Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell is stay, at least for now. At his last press conference as Fed Chair, Powell […]
Musical chairs at the Fed
Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair-designate Kevin Warsh successfully navigated his contentious Senate Banking Committee hearing this past Tuesday, potentially clearing the way for him to replace Jerome Powell when the current chair’s term expires on 15 May. Just as significant is that Jeanine Piro, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, announced she was closing her […]
China: a trot, not a gallop – so far
Fast reading Near-term earnings growth remains subdued, and in a market dominated by short-term capital, conviction has been slow to rebuild. Yet none of this negates the longer-term transition underway. China’s shift away from property toward technology, advanced manufacturing, renewables and automation remains intact. It is firmly established as the world’s number two player in […]
Seizing climate-related opportunities
Climate Change High Yield Credit, Annual Report 2025
How has quant investing evolved over time?
Over the past century, quantitative, or ‘quant’, investing has evolved from a purely theoretical concept to a practical approach to investing in financial markets. Ideas that were once confined to the world of academia have been implemented by numerous investment strategies – some with remarkable success. Quant models have undergone a significant evolution in […]
Back to those other bricks
The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and spot oil prices remain above the US$90 per-barrel level we flagged six weeks ago as a key hurdle for markets if sustained into May. Even so, risk assets have begun to look through the Iranian conflict. The rally in stocks may, in part, simply reflect “war news fatigue.” […]
Portfolio manager Q&A: MDT Market Neutral
MDT has been managing a market neutral approach for nearly 30 years, correct? Yes, we started managing a market neutral portfolio in 1997. It evolved from the observation that our quantitative approach, which seeks to predict the relative performance of all stocks in the US equity market, lent itself not only to selecting stocks with […]
