Lipper Natural Resources Funds suffered $1.3 billion in outflows over the past week, marking their third-largest weekly outflow on record. This past week, funds within the classification averaged a loss of 10.64%. Lipper Natural Resources Funds have realized two of their 10-top lowest all-time weekly performances in the back-to-back weeks. The only other two weeks that posted larger outflows were fund-flows weeks ended October 1, 2014 (-$2.5 billion), and January 16, 2019 (-$1.4 billion). Both these weeks were followed by significant drops in gas and oil prices. Today, we are seeing massive spikes in all energy prices, which helps the

The first quarter of 2022 marked a huge step forward for the U.S. in its progress toward enhancing and standardizing climate-related disclosures. Investors and stakeholders alike have been very loud in their demand for more consistent, comparable, and reliable climate-related information regarding how a company is operating now and how it plans to operate in the future. “Total return” may have a different connotation as we move toward a world where investors expect their investments to not only return profits but provide a meaningful impact while limiting the damage to the world in which they operate. In the U.S., the

This year has been monumental for the Responsible Investing (RI) industry in the United States. Leading up to 2021, the U.S. has merely dipped its toe in the sustainable finance waters. The U.S. has been slow to adopt many regulations and recommendations surrounding sustainable finance already implemented in the EU through the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). What happened in RI during 2021? Momentum for the U.S. Responsible Investing industry picked up in January when President Joe Biden signed executive orders to re-enter into the Paris Climate Agreement. This legally binding international treaty has been adopted by 196 individual parties

The Lipper High Yield ETF classification consists of funds that aim at high current yield from domestic fixed income securities. These funds typically have no maturity restrictions and invest in lower-grade debt issuers. Lipper High Yield ETFs attracted $2.7 billion in new money last week after posting their largest weekly performance since the first week of September (+0.43%). The classification’s intake was the largest inflow in 53 weeks. Lipper High Yield classification has outperformed all other general domestic taxable fixed income Lipper classifications on a month-to-date (+0.48%), year-to-date (+4.88%), and trailing one-year basis (+8.22%). Lipper High Yield ETFs are coming

What is quantitative easing (QE)? Quantitative easing is a monetary tool used by a central bank to help directly influence the supply of money and indirectly influence demand and interest rates. The Federal Reserve utilizes QE by purchasing assets, such as Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), with cash from its member banks. Through this purchasing mechanism, the Fed increases market liquidity as well as weakens the dollar against foreign currencies with the hope of stimulating the economy. This injection of U.S. dollars makes it easier for banks to lend out capital as well as creates a more enticing investment environment

The September Effect is a market anomaly where major markets (both U.S. and ex-U.S.) underperform during September as compared to the rest of the year. The anomaly is thought to be unrelated to any individual market impact, event, or news. Participants have a range of theories that are not limited to: investors choosing to realize gains as the summer comes to an end, funds choosing to take advantage of tax-loss harvesting as the end of the year approaches, as well as the September Effect even becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. To give a sense of the underperformance, we pulled the September

The big news this week was the results of the July Consumer Price Index (CPI), published on Wednesday, August 11, and the Producer Price Index (PPI), released on Thursday, August 12. Both the CPI and PPI reports highlighted concerning 12-month increases. The CPI all-items index rose 5.4% over the last 12 months (hovering around 13-year highs). The PPI reported the final demand index jumped 7.8% for the 12 months ended July 2021, the largest advance since the data was first calculated in 2010. While the 12-month index increases are headline-grabbing, ask yourself where you were a year ago. The economy

It appears that the worst of the situation in India and neighbouring countries is in the past, though the Delta variant at the heart of the outbreak has spread well beyond India. The WHO is tracking cases of the variant reported by 62 countries. There have been a handful of hotspots of the Delta variant in the UK which have experienced new, localised waves. Whilst cases have been rising, deaths have remained low, which can be largely attributed to the adoption of COVID-19 vaccines. So, the race to vaccinate the adult population has become a sprint.  Based on the current

The Federal Reserve has been prepping the market for the latest CPI results for what feels like an eternity. While the Fed has acknowledged the recent price increases, they plan on continuing their accommodative monetary policy until a strong labor market forces a more permanent increase in wages. Investors have been warned time and time again of transitory inflation as the economy reopens and consumer demand spikes. Only recently has the party line wavered, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure our economy doesn’t overheat.” These comments,

The Lipper Loan Participation Funds classification—including both conventional mutual funds and ETFs—has seen a massive influx of flows since the start of the year compared to its historical average. Total estimated net flows for March were $5.8 billion, representing the second largest March inflows to date. Q1 2021 estimated net inflows totaled $14.0 billion, equating to the classification’s third largest start to a calendar year of all time. Over the past two weeks, Lipper Loan Participation Funds have drawn in more than $2 billion alone and have been net positive in weekly flows for 14 straight weeks (check out the

In March, Fathom Consulting argued that the impact of the crisis on inflation was ambiguous, with the lockdowns affecting both the supply and demand sides of the economy in equal measure. That view has broadly been vindicated, with the fall in UK inflation since then largely due to short-term fluctuations in energy prices and the impact of government intervention. Indeed, it is worth noting that, after adjusting for changes in taxation, twelve-month inflation has been rising since May and is almost back to 2%. The decline in UK headline inflation in August was largely due to the introduction of the

Exceptional volatility in asset returns through 2020 can sometimes hide the big picture, which is a very strong risk-off move over the year to date. Risk assets in general have posted negative returns, while safe assets have prospered. That remains true as a generalisation even though some risk assets have rallied — specifically, US equities. The strength of US equities reflects the huge stimulus from macroeconomic policy, both monetary and fiscal. And it also reflects the degree to which the US market as a whole is regarded as a safe haven in troubled times. Once the acute phase of this crisis