Index

The futures are the world’s most popular sustainability-focused derivatives and have seen increasing demand as investors and traders turn to ESG-compliant instruments to hedge and manage portfolios. The ESG derivatives space at Eurex has beaten records in daily and monthly traded contracts this year.

Melissa Brown, Qontigo’s Global Head of Applied Research, spoke with Hardika Singh of The Wall Street Journal about her outlook on the markets. According to Melissa, market rallies during low trading volumes of the summer months can be hard to maintain come fall when volumes typically increase.

A new Qontigo whitepaper analyzes the risk, performance and returns attribution of four indices tracking technology themes, uncovering specific characteristics of the portfolios and differences vis-à-vis the broader technology sector and the overall market.

In this paper we analyzed four tech-oriented thematic indices’ performance and risk through a factor lens leveraging Axioma’s Worldwide Fundamental Factor Model, and also compared their characteristics to the broad market indices.

Stocks rose for a sixth straight month during July, as ongoing optimism that the global economy and corporate profits are rebounding outweighed concerns about a reacceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The STOXX® Global 1800 Index gains 1.6% in dollars in July as investors’ optimism about economic and earnings growth outweighs concerns that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus may slow down the recovery. Asian stocks fall as China tightens regulation over some industries.

The world’s share of responsibly managed assets continued to expand in the two years through 2019, according to one of the most comprehensive industry studies. US-based ESG assets jumped 42% during the period. In Europe, sustainable assets dropped amid higher standards of what constitutes an ESG investment.

The first annual ESG survey from the Index Industry Association (IIA) shows asset managers are preparing for sustainability principles to take a more significant role across their portfolios. It also points to significant challenges including the lack of data standardization, and says indices have a critical role to play in facilitating the adoption of ESG strategies.

Changes to the ESG index follow a market consultation and were undertaken to keep the methodology and index aligned with evolving sustainability practices and new guidelines from regulators. A Qontigo analysis shows the new rules didn’t significantly affect the country or industry allocation of the resulting portfolio.

An annual study by IHS Markit and the German Investor Relations Association reveals a diverse and global structure in DAX shares ownership. In a volatile 2020, US- and UK-based institutional investors increased their presence in the German benchmark’s stock universe, while domestic investors continued to pull out.

The STOXX® Global 1800 Index gains 1.5% in dollars in June and jumps 4.6% in euros following a rally in the greenback. Investors turn to Momentum stocks during the month but snub high-dividend shares. Equity volatility continues its march lower.

Stocks rose for a fifth straight month during June, as ongoing optimism that the global economy is rebounding outweighed concerns about faster inflation and higher interest rates.