Evidence that inflation is falling and global growth is stalling gave EPFR-tracked Bond Funds a shot in the arm during the first full week of January. Ahead of December’s CPI number, which showed US inflation grew at a 13-month low of 6.45% in the final month of 2022, investors committed over $17 billion to all Bond Funds.
Balanced Funds, also known as hybrid or multi-asset funds, are a class of funds that contain both a debt and equity within a single portfolio. These funds offer investors diversified exposure that can be adjusted over time — either on a discretionary basis or in response to predetermined markers — and are an important tool for target-date retirement planning.
Flows and allocations to different sectors and sector-related fund groups over the past 14 months have been marked by conviction, record inflows – and sharp changes of direction. Learn how EPFR Data captures some significant thematic shifts, in our Sector rotation series.
I have always been at a loss to understand why the phrase “old wine in new bottles” is pejorative. After all, if you think about it, you really do want your wine to be old and your bottles new. While on the subject, it is apropos that I bring up the EPFR Regional Strategy, our oldest running quantitative strategy.
Flows and allocations to different sectors and sector-related fund groups over the past 14 months have been marked by conviction, record inflows – and sharp changes of direction. EPFR’s data also captures some significant thematic shifts.
Join our Quants Corner MeetUp group, hosted by Quants for Quants. Our first MeetUp, ‘Quant in a cold climate: Talk mutual fund data and strategies for a post-QE world with the EPFR team,’ will be hosted virtually on March 31st at 12PM EST/ 5PM GMT for our Boston and London Quants Corner groups.
In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic’s initial onslaught, central bankers proved their policy toolkit had not – as feared – been exhausted by the great financial crisis of 2008-09 and its aftermath. Furthermore, the experience of combating the GFC taught them to deploy that tool kit quickly and decisively. But, especially in the case of the US and Europe, those central bankers were slow to dial back their support as the global economy rebounded from the initial shock of the pandemic. Many now stand accused of stoking inflationary pressures. With inflation hitting multi-year highs in the US and Europe and fiscal discipline in many countries now honored mainly in the breach, central bankers face a new set of challenges.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heading into its third week, investors stepped up their exodus from Europe Equity Funds during the seven days ending March 9. Those tracked by EPFR saw weekly redemptions exceed $10 billion for the first time ever as combined outflows from Europe Equity and Bond Funds since Russia’s attack started on Feb. 24 climbed past the $25 billion mark.
Evergrande, ranked among the Fortune Global 500, is the second-largest real-estate property developer in China with over 100,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $70 billion. It also has an estimated $300 billion in debt outstanding together with a back-log, numbering in the tens of thousands, of promised-but-unfinished apartments. After Chinese regulators implemented requirements linking allowed debt levels to cash flow and capital reserves, it is struggling to service its debt.
Since the start of its ETF purchasing program in 4Q10, the combined value of the Bank Of Japan’s (BOJ) domestic ETF holdings has ballooned to over $450 billion. It owns over 5% of the total market capitalization of the TOPIX index and, by some estimates, has acquired 70% of the total ETFs eligible under the terms of its current program.
