We identified top performers within the Chinese Water Utilities sector, based on their historical operating efficiency, that are most likely to benefit from potential opportunities in China’s resource management. These companies, as a group, have outperformed their overall sector index significantly over the last five years. A China Water Utilities – Top Operating Efficiency Index can aid long-term investors looking to play the resource management theme with exposure to Chinese equities.

Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues are increasingly gaining attention from all types of stakeholders, ranging from government to media to investors and asset managers. As more asset managers assess ESG exposure, and even use it as a basis for investing, it becomes important to understand and evaluate the degree to which ESG efforts can be maintained, creating long-term value, while reducing risk.

What is driving the deficit to historic highs? Should investors be concerned that rising budget deficits could spur inflationary pressures and higher interest rates? Is the bond market reflecting the deficit pressures? With deficit levels expected to remain high over the next few years, what would be the best investment strategy for bond investors? In this study, we look to answer these questions, with a primary focus on linkages between federal deficits and bond markets.

With property prices rising rapidly in many cities across China, speculation is only increasing about an expanding real estate bubble. While many believe that the Chinese market is experiencing a manageable boom, there are others who argue that it is a bubble waiting to burst. This study focuses on Chinese macroeconomic fundamentals in general, and the real estate sector in particular, to evaluate the possibility of a credit-driven property bubble in China.

This study analyzes some of the key factors underpinning recent LatAm outperformance in light of the region’s historical performance trends. Will Latin American equities continue to sustain the momentum they have built over the last year? Which market/country appears most attractive now from an investment perspective? Are regional valuations pointing to an overheated equity market?

In this study, we examine the current state of the fixed income/CDS market and analyze CDS performance by sector in the US. Our analysis also seeks to determine: a) if the CDS market is stabilizing, b) if the market is correctly pricing credit risk, c) the attractiveness of bonds relative to equities for investment, and d) the relative risk levels of major regions across the world.

China’s foreign exchange reserves reached a record high of $ 2.27 trillion in Q3 2009, equivalent to about 50% of the country’s GDP, prompting questions about currency undervaluation. By examining historical data on China’s forex reserves, balance of payments, exports, and RMB/USD exchange rates, our analyses shed light on the major sources of the build-up in reserves, the high correlation between annual increases in BoP surpluses and forex reserves, and the major drivers of BoP surpluses. Further, using a relative purchasing power parity approach, our results indicate that the RMB is currently undervalued by about 4%.

We apply time series data to the Taylor rule, a tool used by many central bankers to gauge what might be an "optimal" short-term interest rate. By combining historical data for GDP, CPI, inflation, and interest rates, our analyses reveal several interesting findings about U.S. Fed policy in combating inflation in the 1980s, factoring in the new economy’s increased productivity in the 1990s, and managing the tumult of the 2007-2009 recession. As a predictive tool, our Taylor rule scenarios suggest negative real rates through Q3 2010. Datastream enables users to generate many such sophisticated economic analyses and forecasts . . .

One way to judge the relative worth of gold is to compare it and other commodities in terms of a currency index, removing currency fluctuations from both prices. We used trade-weighted dollars. Shown this way, the price of gold and gold’s price change versus other commodity prices gives a view of inflation expectations. We used Thomson Reuters Datastream to compare currency-adjusted gold with a similarly adjusted CRB commodity index. This view indicates that gold is at a greater price extreme relative to other commodities than it was in the early 1980s, near the end of a decade-long bull run for the metal.

The number of IPOs issued in the U.S. reached a 30-year trough in 2008, while the global market saw its worst years by that measure since 1990. Global IPOs fell to a 18-year low in 2008 with 578 offerings, the lowest issuance level since 1990 (294 deals).In addition to a severe decline in the number of deals, the value of worldwide IPO proceeds fell 70% to $94 bln in 2008 from $315 bln a year earlier, in global equity’s worst year since the Great Depression.U.S. share of deal value has fallen to 28% in 2008, down from about 50% in 1990, while Asia –ex Japan’s share has risen to 32% from 13.9% in that same timeframe.