Investment themes

In this PERSPECTIVES Special we will look for how any potential end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might impact financial markets.

In our Future Fundamentals podcast, Naoko Ishii, Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo and Director of the Center for Global Commons, and Markus Müller, our Chief Investment Officer for Sustainability, discuss putting nature on the balance sheet and how to build a coordinated financial response to this global challenge.

On January 20, DeepSeek, an AI spin-off from a local Chinese hedge fund, launched a free AI assistant app. By yesterday, it had overtaken other well-known AI assistants in the number of smartphone app downloads. With its growing traction, the underlying details of its development gained attention as well.

In this PERSPECTIVES Special we examine the reasons behind the UK assets’ bumpy start to the year. Issues covered include the re-pricing of global interest rate expectations, vulnerabilities from the UK’s “twin deficit”, the fiscal outlook, Bank of England policy options and the outlook for sterling, UK bonds and UK equities.

In this CIO Special report, we discuss details of the fiscal package announced by the National People’s Congress’ Standing Committee meeting and provide an update on the macroeconomic performance of the Chinese economy.

Our Global Chief Investment Officer, Christian Nolting, provides an initial assessment of the U.S. election results and their market implications.

As we inch closer to the U.S. presidential election, our new CIO Special explores the current state of the political landscape, key issues and policies that continue to shape the narrative for the race and its potential impact on a range of sectors for equity investors.

Portfolio decarbonization will become an increasingly important topic. Investors need to understand the key issues involved.

In this CIO Special report we examine what’s driving Earth Overshoot Day and where innovation is offering hope for our planet's future.

Carbon markets are likely to play a major role in promoting sustainability and innovation, offering new opportunities for investors and policymakers alike.

With the French election resulting in a hung parliament, we discuss three possible political scenarios and their investment implications.

After Labour’s victory, the prospect of policy stability and cyclical growth will make UK assets worth a second look. We outline investment implications.

The renewable energy sector is experiencing remarkable growth. However, this rapid expansion faces challenges. In this report, we explain why the renewable energy sector’s trajectory remains positive.

China announced more measures to support the property sector at a national government meeting on May 17. The stimulus measures come at a time when China’s property sector continues to weaken with price declines and lower transaction volumes.

The Bank of England (BoE) maintained its key interest rate at 5.25% for the sixth consecutive meeting last Thursday. Signals from the Monetary Policy Council (MPC) indicate a potential rate cut as early as June 20, however.

The recent positive performance by Chinese equities has been mainly driven by a modest improvement in macroeconomic data.

This CIO Special addresses Spain’s recent positive economic performance, its fiscal balance situation and the prospects for Spanish debt & equity assets.

Italy has weathered recent economic crises, including COVID-19 and the European energy shock, better than expected. In Q4 2023, Italy’s GDP growth was +0.2% QoQ, compared to 0.0% for the Eurozone. For the full year 2023, Italy’s growth was 0.7%, outperforming the Eurozone’s 0.5%.

Singapore’s economic openness creates both challenges and strengths. The external sector is an unavoidable source of risk, the high cost of living is a concern and an ageing population. But, set against this, Singapore has a number of important strengths – a globally-connected economy, business-friendly environment, political system and benefits from its role in ASEAN.

It remains a challenging environment for the German housing market, but rate cuts, economic growth and structural rental market shortages should help the market to bottom out.

In our Future Fundamentals podcast, Karen Sack, of ORRAA, and Markus Müller, our Chief Investment Officer for ESG, take a deep dive into the sustainable blue economy.

These form a vital component some systematic long-term asset allocation approaches. We highlight significant developments since our last review and the reasons for them.

China recently released a flurry of Q1 economic data. But while GDP numbers were surprisingly strong, some other activity measures continue to disappoint. So has China’s economy really turned a corner?

Bitcoin is unlikely to assert itself as a widespread medium of exchange but may be on its way to mainstream acceptance as a store of value, although the risks of holding it remain high.

The third in our trilogy of keynote presentations on the Earth's "Life Pillars" explains why climate-related risks and opportunities should be important considerations for investors with regard to long-term portfolio development.

Favourable long-term trends for the electric-vehicle market remain intact – but an excess supply of battery metals means the outlook for miners remains clouded.

Sustainable food systems (SFS) deliver food security and nutrition in ways that are sustainable in economic, social and environmental terms. Transitioning towards sustainable food systems could open up business opportunities worth USD4.5 trillion per year by 2030.

India, the world’s largest democracy, is heading to a national vote, with results expected by the end of May. Almost one billion registered voters will make this the biggest election exercise anywhere, ever.