The Fossil Fuel Conundrum
As the world is now embracing a low-carbon economy at a record pace, this blog examines how this could impact fossil fuel investments.
Blog
Read more
Willpower & Self Control in Volatile Markets
This blog overviews the tried and tested strategy of pound cost averaging. This strategy, combined with self-discipline and sticking to your investment plan can be beneficial for investing – even when markets are volatile.
The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: The economic fallout and market implications
While the situation between Russia and Ukraine remains extremely delicate and evolving at a daily rate, in this blog we give an overview of how the situation is impacting ebi portfolios and the economic impact on the market.
Managing Inflation Risk
Over the past few months, headlines have been dominated by talks of inflation and stagflation.
Samuel Adams Joins ebi
EBI Portfolios is delighted to announce the appointment of Samuel Adams (CEO, Vert Asset Management) as a Non-Executive Director, joining the company’s board in September 2020. Sam has a wealth of experience as a senior manager in the financial services sector, and particular expertise in ESG investments and presenting ESG solutions to advisers and investors alike.“We’re very excited to have Sam join the team at EBI” Craig Burgess, CEO, EBI Portfolios, “Our views on passive, factor-based and ESG investing are aligned, and we look forward to bringing Sam’s experience in this space back to the UK market.”“ESG investing is becoming a larger and larger part of our proposition at EBI, and Sam will be joining the team to aid in increasing the ESG elements of our portfolios, as well as liaising with our network of advisers; sharing best practice and advise on how to present an ESG solution to investors.”Previously, Sam started Dimensional’s Financial Advisor business in the UK & Eur…
Can CAPE provide cover for Investors?
[Note that this analysis will concentrate primarily on US Indices, as there is more available data, but it will inevitably apply to other markets as they tend to mimic the returns etc. of US markets].
The Chorus of Criticism of Passive Investing
Critiques of Passive investing According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, passive investing now accounts for 45% of all US assets (up from 25% a decade ago), with equity passive funds amounting to c.$3 trillion at present.Our attention has recently been drawn to another high-profile investor, Michael Burry (article here), who believes that Passive investing is responsible for creating (another) bubble in asset prices, comparing it to the sub-prime mortgage bubble in that “price-setting in that market was not done by fundamental security-level analysis, but by massive capital flows based on Nobel-approved models of risk that proved to be untrue.” He follows other notable investors, s…
Value A Sideshow To Expensive Stocks
April was supposed to be the month that the underperforming Value and Small cap factor premiums rebounded from their painful COVID-19 crash. After all, that is exactly what famously happened after the TMT crash in 2000 when traditional Value stocks enjoyed a recovery after long periods of underperformance (1). And sure enough global small cap stocks registered an impressive bounce during April, rising 23.9% from lows in March against a 17.2% move in the overall market. That’s something, perhaps not overwhelming, whilst Value just tailed the market benchmark. Most Value investors, and many (but not all) Small cap investors, know that they have to take a long view and swim against the tide of take-downs and negative opinion which can at times seem overwhelming.
Solving The Dividends Puzzle
Dividends are being cut at a pace unimaginable a few weeks ago. Company boards in every country are scrambling to conserve cash, comply with strings attached to state subsidies and performing pivots, if not pirouettes, between the short and long-term interests of a gaggle of stakeholders ranging from employees, investors, bankers and underfunded pension funds. Among energy companies for example, Shell have just cut their dividend whilst BP are holding out. Dividends in this environment can hardly be viewed as anything other than a highly discretionary signal from company managements to their stakeholders.Some of our clients are worried about dividends too.
Is Inflation Set to Explode?
In March 2018 it appeared that global growth would exert pressure on interest rates, forcing the rate of inflation ever higher, making bonds a weaker investment prospect. Things have not worked out quite as market participants then might have expected.The Fed’s policy changes and quantitative tightening in 2018, combined with the high existing global debt levels snuffed out any inflationary impulse. Following the COVID-19 fuelled stockmarket crash bond yields all over the world are now 1% or less.