Index

Despite its main association with online gaming and social media, the Metaverse is also providing a virtual platform for industries to employ technologies aimed at improving efficiency, controlling supply chains and monitoring risk-management processes. The STOXX Global Metaverse Index is designed to capture the pioneers developing those applications.

Axel Lomholt, Chief Product Officer for Indices & Benchmarks at Qontigo, explains how technology and data innovation are buoying thematic investing, and what it takes to be at the research frontline in thematic strategies.

A new whitepaper from Qontigo’s research team explores the benefits of constructing an exclusions portfolio with an optimizer, which helps limit active risk and frees up capital to allocate towards sustainability or performance objectives.

The STOXX Global 1800 index rose 3% in dollars and only 0.6% in euros in March. The Fed on March 22 increased its key borrowing rate by 25 basis points to the highest since 2007, but removed from a statement previous references to the need for “ongoing” rate rises.

Stocks rose in March, rebounding from losses in the month’s first half, as investors raised expectations the Federal Reserve may soon pause its interest rate hikes following the collapse of three lenders in the US.

Citigroup has expanded its suite of thematic structured products linked to STOXX indices that are adapted for participation products.

The Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) and Qontigo, its exclusive distribution partner, have announced the launch of the SDI Dashboard. The new tool allows investors to upload their investment portfolios and analyse them across a range of SDG-related parameters.

Our analysis shows how an optimized sustainability index can decrease active risk and free up more of the risk budget to be allocated to the desired sustainability metric(s), making the resulting portfolio a suitable replacement for a traditional benchmark.

At a recent IPE webinar, experts from Qontigo and DWS discussed how investors can build a sustainable strategy considering their impact objectives, tracking error budgets and the need to comply with evolving regulation.

A panel at the annual conference organized by the derivatives exchange, held last week, discussed the drivers behind the boom in thematic investing. As thematic ETFs continue to lure inflows, demand will also move on to listed derivatives, the experts said.

The collapse of a Californian bank triggered a rapidly-spreading banking crisis, with Europe suffering the brunt of it. European Banks, Financial Services firms and Insurers have fallen more than their US counterparts, while the risk of each one of those sectors in Europe has jumped.

The recent collapse of several banks has sparked fears of a 2011-style “doom loop,” in which losses in the financial sector spread to the wider economy. So far, contagion has been limited, but a further deterioration in credit quality could result in drawdowns across all sectors.