News & Research

Arun Singhal, joined The Podfolio podcast to discuss index investing, and the emergence of smart beta strategies that blur the line between active and passive approaches.

As the outlook for Technology stocks appears uncertain, we look at the risk-management benefits for Korean investors of adding a little DAX exposure to a KOSPI portfolio.

For the past 20 years, a multi-factor strategy as targeted by the STOXX Europe 600 Industry Neutral Ax Multi-Factor Index has fared extremely well, and much of that consistent performance can be traced to the benefit of diversifying across different sources of return premia.

The iSTOXX MUTB Japan Low Carbon Risk 30 Index tracks those Japanese companies with the best profile in terms of carbon emissions and carbon risk management, and additionally screens for quality characteristics including high profitability. The index, which expands STOXX’s collaboration with Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB), will underlie an ETN to be listed by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd. (MUMSS) in Tokyo.

The iSTOXX® USA Ocean Care 40 Index follows on the success of the EURO iSTOXX® Ocean Care 40 Index and tracks companies whose operations and programs are helping stem the degradation of the world’s water bodies, marine ecosystems and the environment.

The futures’ price and trading volume have jumped this year. If the French presidential elections this April were to trigger market volatility as did the vote five years ago, activity in VSTOXX futures could pick up further in coming weeks.

Designed to facilitate equity financing, Eurex is introducing new equity total return futures (ETRFs) that replicate popular OTC equity swaps and incorporate the benefits of an exchange-listed product. Stuart Heath from Eurex explains what advantages ETRFs bring to banks and investors, and describes the role of indices in creating the new contracts.

Aligning portfolios with the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a fast-growing segment of responsible investing (RI), one with a different profile and outcome to ESG or climate considerations. A recent webinar explored how investors can employ the SDGs for portfolio management, index construction, reporting and more, using the Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP).

We talk to Paul Lacroix, Ossiam’s Head of Structuring, about the switch of index underlying the Ossiam STOXX® Europe 600 Equal Weight NR ETF, and why an equal-weighted ESG strategy can boost both the ESG profile and price returns of a portfolio.

Fund issuers seeking to design sustainable-investment products to be distributed across European markets face an uphill struggle because of widely diverging national and regional frameworks. A new Qontigo whitepaper highlights the intricacy of Europe’s ESG labeling landscape and provides some recommendations that may help overcome its pitfalls.

The ETPs are issued by Leverage Shares and add to a list of more than 100 existing products. They include underlyings such as Taiwan Semiconductor and Moderna, and enable investors and traders to efficiently gain leveraged and short exposure to the target stock.

Variety in ESG data can enrich investment strategies and provide an edge in performance. Qontigo’s open-architecture approach is to find and leverage the most robust sustainability information available, with no limitation to any single provider, for each investing case.