News & Research

The FAANGs — Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (i.e., Alphabet) — are having an annus horribilis. But they still have gains to show for the past three years, and, importantly for investors, the group’s influence on the US market has only decreased so much.

We examine the composition and profile of the STOXX Global Digital Entertainment and Education Index, a thematic index that underlies a new iShares ETF, for investors interested in understanding the portfolio’s composition and drivers of returns.

The STOXX Global Digital Entertainment and Education Index captures the global digital transformation of entertainment and education – a long-term structural change. The individual characteristics of the stocks in this index are what set it apart: the Specific Return factor made the largest positive contribution to the seven-year return of all the indices in the study.

Term spreads have risen in multiple regions around the globe, as long-term sovereign yields soared amid rising (expected and actual) inflation but central banks took longer to raise short-term interest rates. The impact of this on international real estate has mostly been positive over the past two-and-a-half years.

Olivier d’Assier, Qontigo Head of APAC Applied Research, speaks in “Bloomberg Daybreak Asia” with Shery Ahn and Haidi Stroud-Watts. He says the message from central banks to investors is clear: “Help is definitely not coming”. He discusses how this will play out in the markets and other risks to sentiment.

Real estate has long had the reputation of being at least a partial hedge against inflation, since both rental income and property values typically respond positively to inflationary pressures. The iSTOXX Developed and Emerging Markets ex USA PK VN Index has lived up to this reputation historically and is continuing to do so in the current inflationary environment.

Thematic ETFs have seen their biggest decline in assets globally, as assets plunged 6.9 per cent in Q1 driven by negative investment returns.

Olivier D’Assier, Head of Applied Research APAC at Qontigo joins CNBC to discuss the latest market events and how they impact Asian economies.

The STOXX WTW Climate Transition Indices are a new approach to managing climate risk that offer investors a systematic and transparent way to incorporate climate transition risk into their investment decisions.

Several factors have been causing developed markets to be riskier than emerging markets for investors. Diana Baechle, Principal of applied research shared her perspective with Reuters on why EMs are performing better than DMs.

US still shows highest risk, one month into the Russia-Ukraine war; Emerging and Developed Markets close the risk gap; Oil & Gas major exporter Canada sees among the highest returns.

Our top 10 takeaways looking at the effects of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on developed vs. emerging equity markets in charts.