European banks (as measured by the Stoxx 600 Banks Index) had a decent year in 2017: the index climbed more than 8%, slightly outperforming the broader European market (Stoxx 600 Index). The strongest positive impulse came from the French elections in April last year, where the populist threat was successfully defeated by Emmanuel Macron, arguably the most market-friendly candidate among the contenders. A robust European economy and a solid business sentiment throughout the year also helped banking shares go higher.
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Ten economic hypotheses for 2018
The current environment is very positive for the capital markets: strong growth, low inflation, supportive monetary policies, good earnings growth, and low volatilities, i.e. fluctuations. Also, the numerous risks have not had a significantly negative impact on prices. However, the phase of rising prices started as early as March 2009.
Best of Erste AM Investment Blog 2017
2017 was a positive year on the global capital markets. We have analysed which blogs were the most popular ones last year.
Market Monitor: risky markets have come far
Earlier this week, we convened the last Investment Committee of 2017. The general risk appetite of the team has not changed vis-à-vis the previous month (from 78.85 percent to 79 percent on our 0 – 100 percent scale). The team continues to see the future optimistically, with a resulting “risk on” stance.
Emerging markets – not a pure commodities story any longer
The global economy is experiencing significant growth, and the emerging markets have felt the increased economic growth rates as well. Even in problematic countries such as Brazil or Russia, the situation has been picking up due to the increased oil price.
Equities: Optimistic, but cautious
2017 has been another bumper year for global equities with the MSCI All Country Index gaining ca. 18% in the first ten months in dollar terms. November, however, has not started well for risky assets.
Market Monitor: Optimism on the rise
This week we held our monthly Investment Committee meeting. Although only little has changed with regard to the overall economic picture, we were having a few interesting discussions that we would now like to share with you.
Disruption from Catalonia
The events in Catalonia are a new disruptive political element on the capital markets. The basic question is whether the generally favourable environment for risky assets is sustainable.
European bank shares picking up
After years of drought, European bank shares have shown a solid performance in the year to date.
Alternative investment strategies: part 2
After illustrating what alternative strategies are in part 1 of this series, how they work, and what benefits and disadvantages they come with, we would now like to discuss some of the most important representatives of this set of strategies. In the following strategies (also called hedge funds), the majority of the capital invested is allocated to alternative models.