News (incl. corporate)

Thematic indices can offer diversification and market-beating returns, in some cases by using innovative index methodologies, says Christoph Schon at Qontigo.

The ISS STOXX Biodiversity Index Suite, launched this week, aims to take a more holistic approach to biodiversity than existing market offerings, Antonio Celeste, Director for Sustainability Product Management at index, analytics and risk solutions provider Qontigo, told ESG Investor.

Olivier d’Assier, head of Asia Pacific applied research at Qontigo, discusses the outlook for stock markets in Japan and the US. He speaks with Shery Ahn and Haidi Stroud-Watts on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia.”

“They are large companies with well-diversified revenue bases, with no debt, with profitable income statements, with strong balance sheets,” said Olivier d’Assier, head of APAC applied research at Qontigo, in a phone interview on Friday.

Our Sustainable Investments team has produced a document detailing the methodology for reporting the sustainable investment percentage of STOXX and DAX indices. The rules are aligned with the spirit of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and are designed, among other things, to bring specificity and flexibility when constructing sustainable portfolios.

Qontigo Global Head of Applied Research Melissa Brown says the market is being lead by a few large technology stocks which is “unsustainable”.

Qontigo Global Head of Applied Research Melissa Brown explains what investors are waiting for: the “show me the money” moment, before putting more money to work in the markets.

In a discussion about the current state of the U.S. markets, Managing Director of Applied Research Melissa Brown shed light on the disproportionate dominance of large tech stocks.

The strong April jobs report released Friday could change the view that the economy is facing an imminent recession and might lead to more institutional investor uncertainties in both the equity and bond markets, said Melissa R. Brown, Global Head of Applied Research at Qontigo, a Deutsche Boerse-owned financial analytics and index provider.

“Today’s jobs report could change the view that a recession is imminent and lead to even more investor uncertainty, in both equity and bond markets. Strong job gains and low unemployment may signal that inflation is not over just yet. This is also on top of decent Q1 earnings. That continued uncertainty could translate into more negative sentiment and higher volatility, especially as we won’t hear from the Fed again for several weeks.” – Melissa Brown, Managing Director of Applied Research at Qontigo

While the US banking system steadied in April after the traumas of March, investor sentiment remained under a cloud, but still showed some recovery last month. So with the recent combination of declining markets and a recovering sentiment, was there a shift in investment strategies? On Money in the Market, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Olivier d’Assier, Head of Applied Research, APAC, Qontigo to find out more.

In parallel to the takeover of SimCorp A/S, Deutsche Börse AG intends to combine its existing data & analytics subsidiaries Qontigo and ISS under one leadership. Upon completion of the offer, the combination of Qontigo/ISS and SimCorp A/S will be grouped within a newly created Investment Management Solutions segment to drive further growth, efficiencies, and full value crystallisation. This includes the option of a potential IPO for the combined ISS/Qontigo business in the medium term.