Blog posts

The Qontigo Investment Intelligence Summit held on May 5 was the stage for a discussion around index-based thematic investing. Two industry experts — from BlackRock and Qontigo — explained why assets are flowing into thematics and why the strategies can best target the upside of a world undergoing structural change.

A new Qontigo whitepaper analyzes the risk characteristics and factor exposures of the STOXX Willis Towers Watson Climate Transition Indices (CTIs). The study helps investors understand the implications of a portfolio that is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and that manages the risks and opportunities from moving to a low-carbon economy.

The Index Industry Association (IIA) provides education and advocacy on behalf of independent index providers worldwide, CEO Rick Redding explains to Qontigo’s blog. With the transformation of the role and shape of indices in full swing, he sees huge possibilities for the industry and for investors ahead – as well as key challenges.

The STOXX Global 1800 index fell 8.2% in dollars last month, taking its retreat in 2022 to 13.2%. US technology shares slumped 12.9% in month, the worst showing since November 2008.

The exchange-traded fund offers exposure to an industry whose phenomenal growth has only accelerated in recent years. The underlying STOXX USA ETF Industry tracks US companies with the highest revenue exposure to businesses involved in the design, issuance, sale and trading of ETFs worldwide.

The futures will track four STOXX thematic indices that have a technology focus: Automation & Robotics, Breakthrough Healthcare, Digitalization and Digital Security. The centrally-cleared derivatives will complement a growing thematics ecosystem that includes ETFs, helping investors better manage portfolios.

The newly named AMUNDI STOXX EUROPE 600 ESG UCITS ETF DR fund meets increasing client demand for responsible-investing principles and will be classified as Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

As the EURO iSTOXX Ocean Care 40 is named Index of the Year by SRP, we dive deeper into the drivers behind the launch of the thematic index. We talk to Céline Jaquelin, responsible for French Institutional Clients at SILEX, Qontigo’s partner in the design of the Ocean Care indices.

The STOXX Global 1800 index rose 2.7% in dollars last month, with basic-resources and energy companies leading gains for a second consecutive month. The benchmark is still down 5.5% for 2022.

Futures on the EURO STOXX Banks Dividend Points Index are trading between 7.9% and 23% below their pre-war prices, depending on the maturity, even as equity prices recover. Traders have raised expectations that a slowing economy may hit lenders’ ability to continue or increase their payments to shareholders.

For years, factor investing has demonstrated its potential to outperform the general market.

The war in Ukraine has hit the various business sectors in the equity market in different ways. In contrast, themes such as infrastructure, clean energy transition and cybersecurity have emerged as outperformers. A new whitepaper from Qontigo’s Applied Research team analyzes this divergent performance and what it says about asset-allocation approaches.