Equity

GAM’s Scilla Huang Sun evaluates some interesting trends in the luxury market and explains why this is a sector in which active management can add considerable value

The U.S. and China are edging ever closer to a full-blown trade war, but it won’t just be the two superpowers affected. With its equity markets highly correlated to global growth, many view Japan as a potential casualty of the ongoing war.

Alibaba is often heralded as the Amazon of China, and in terms of online retail dominance, it is. The business models of the two businesses are however very different. Indeed, Alibaba doesn’t consider itself an ecommerce company at all.

Investors are looking at a very different Europe compared to one year ago. Even though Brexit talks are likely to drag on and Italy’s turbulent political environment is a potential wild card, political risk in Europe has eased dramatically.

Academic studies present ample evidence in support of the existence of four factor premiums in stock markets: Low Risk, Value, Momentum, and Quality. Factor investing puts these concepts into practice by enabling investors to allocate their capital explicitly to these premiums in order to achieve higher returns and better risk management.