The stars (and stripes) align: The overlooked appeal of US SMID

Fast reading While about one third of the S&P 500 is accounted for by the ‘Magnificent Seven’, the Federated Hermes US SMID Equity team have 2500 stocks to choose from (from the Russell 2500 Index) and no single group that dominates. US SMID companies – with a market capitalisation of between US$1bn to US$15bn – […]

Investors prep for June rate cuts

Line chart on the background of skyscrapers

market snapshot

Fiorino: Where physics meets finance

A sculpture depicting an ancient animal

Basel lies 251km due northeast by road from Geneva, putting a precise Swiss measure on the distance between big finance and big science. Headquartered in the Geneva suburb of Meryin, CERN1 has served as the global mecca of particle physics research since it switched on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2008. Via the LHC […]

Commodities of the future: the metals vital to energy transition

This is sponsored content from Citywire in association with Federated Hermes Limited. When investors consider metals exposure in their portfolios, they might once have focused on gold, silver and platinum. Today, more common metals are becoming increasingly important because they will play a vital role in the energy transition. Demand for copper, for example, is […]

The unpersuadables?

Seoul skyline from han river

Led by its impressive President, Hiromi Yamaji, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s strategy for increasing shareholder returns has been to convince companies to do the right thing. This has been achieved by encouraging enhanced stockholder engagement and reporting, supporting a culture shift, while  naming co-operative companies, thereby shaming delinquents. This approach is proving effective, with many […]

Asia ex-Japan Equity: Letter to Investors

Rocky road in the forest

Capital Constrained

Outlook brightens for emerging market debt

Blue sky in the horizon city and bridge

market snapshot

What’s behind the boom in direct lending?

An allocation to direct lending, focused on the right strategy, can provide an investor with low volatility, limited correlation to other asset classes, diversification to underlying industries, quarterly cash income and an element of inflation protection.  The sharp rise in interest rates over the last two years has resulted in higher yields at a time […]

The squeeze is on

A lot of oranges

Fast reading Corporates face the double whammy of a lacklustre economy and muted earnings. With yields likely to stay relatively high through 2024, corporates looking to refinance can also expect a higher cost of capital. This presents a challenging scenario, particularly for highly levered corporates which typically make up the CCC part of the market. […]

Markets soar on rate cut hopes

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