Fiorino: Can Europe’s banks withstand high-pressure energy disruption?
As Europe grapples with a gas crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, investors are facing up to a fundamental truth: energy is everything. Russia’s efforts to restrict, or cut off, the flow of natural gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, has […]
Markets on edge despite Bank of England intervention
market snapshot
They’ve got the power? European Utilities and the energy crisis
The threat to European consumers from soaring gas and electricity prices has dominated recent headlines and impacted bond prices, but informed discussion of the implications for Utilities companies has been lacking. The supply squeeze caused by the conflict in Ukraine, exacerbated by existing market design, has created three major potential issues for the Utilities sector, […]
Animal farming and ESG: a sector where some are more equal than others
The animal farming industry entered the pandemic widely regarded as an ESG laggard: a sector noted for its high greenhouse gas emissions, unethical treatment of livestock, and intensive land and water use, and a leading global cause of deforestation. The Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) initiative found the industry has done ‘too little […]
The spoils of the pandemic: in this together?
The annual publication of the Forbes rich list has become a much-followed media ritual, however, in 2022, the unveiling of the list served as a stark reminder – for those who cared to see it – of the asymmetrical impact of the pandemic. The world’s 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes during the […]
ESG Materiality, Q3 2022
Supply chain scrutiny puts spotlight on workers’ rights
Seven reasons why the time is right to buy EMD
There are two sides to every sell-off. With emerging market debt (EMD) posting its weakest H1 return since the height of the global financial crisis, investors must decide whether to approach this sell-off as a setback or a shopping spree. On the one hand, EMD is down 21.76% year to date¹, having borne the brunt […]
Global Emerging Markets, H2 2022
Outlook
India’s real estate resurgence in eight charts
Residential sales in India’s seven largest cities hit their highest levels last year since 2014. Factors behind the upturn in the property cycle include industry consolidation, a fall in available inventory and an increase in regulatory oversight. On a recent trip to India after more than two years away I was struck by how one […]
EM debt: The cruellest cut
Fast reading Historically, EMD is one of the few fixed income market segments to have consistently delivered a positive yield with some cushion to movements in core rates. Even so, issuers with comparable credit metrics generally receive a lower rating per the standard agencies than their developed market peers. This contributes to the spread premium […]
