ABSTRACT
We examine the impact of the Bank of Japan's exchange traded fund (ETF) purchases on two aspects of market efficiency—long-range dependence and price delay—of the TOPIX and Nikkei 225 indices. An increase in ETF purchases results in lower long-range dependence for both indices while the impact on the price delay varies according to index and measure. A sub-period analysis shows that the impact on market efficiency varies over time, with the dominant pattern being a delayed harmful effect, followed by a positive impact and thereafter a negative effect. The implications of these findings are discussed.
ABSTRACT
We study the impact of the COVID-19 shock on the portfolio exposures of euro area investors. The analysis "looks-through" holdings of investment fund shares to first gauge euro area investors' full exposures to global debt securities and listed shares by sector at end-2019 and to subsequently analyse the portfolio shifts in the first and second quarters of 2020. We show heterogeneous patterns across asset classes and sectors, but also across less and more vulnerable euro area countries. In particular, we find a broad-based rebalancing towards domestic sovereign debt at the expense of extra-euro area sovereigns in the first quarter of 2020, consistent with heightened home bias, which however levelled off in the second quarter. On the contrary, for listed shares we find that euro area investors rebalanced away from domestic towards extra-euro area securities in both the first and the second quarter, which may be associated with better relative foreign stock market performance. Many of these shifts were only due to indirect holdings, corroborating the importance of investment funds in assessing investors' exposures-especially for households, insurance companies and pension funds-in particular in times of large shocks. We also confirm the important intermediation role played by investment funds in an analysis focusing on the large-scale portfolio rebalancing observed between 2015 and 2017 during the ECB's Asset Purchase Programme.
ABSTRACT
This article aimed to test the effect of lockup periods on the performance of Brazilian equity funds and multimarket funds, considering the period affected by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study contributes to better understanding the effects of redemption restrictions imposed on quotaholders, a relevant subject considering the increase in the number of funds in Brazil. This effect is analyzed with particular focus on the period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study have implications for individual and professional investors and may also interest large families of Brazilian funds, given that the establishment of lockup periods forms part of a long-Term decision. The research has the potential to impact planning in the fund industry, the financial planning of small and large investors, as well as the literature on the subject, motivating the undertaking of new research. The sample was composed of 17,417 Brazilian funds, 13,581 of which were multimarket funds and 3,836 were equity funds, covering the period from January of 2018 to December of 2021. Various subsamples were evaluated for robustness purposes. The hypotheses were tested using a difference-in-difference model operationalized through a panel. Fund performance was estimated every quarter based on the four-factor alpha. The main results of the study reveal that lockup periods were positively associated with fund performance. On the other hand, during the period negatively affected by COVID-19, funds with greater lockup periods did not record better performance than the other funds (considering in the comparison the performance of groups with a shorter lockup and that of the funds before the pandemic), a result that may advance the discussion on the effects of redemption restrictions. © 2023 Universidade de Sao Paulo. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to analyze the efficiency of the funds in technological, healthcare, and consumer cyclical sectors based on the U.S. News & World Report rankings. We employed a Principal Component Analysis to select the indicators to explain efficiency. Then, we have used an alternative approach that combines Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding, the Value-Based DEA, to assess the efficiency of funds for 1 year (2020), 3 years (2018–2020), and 5 years (2016–2020). The results highlight that in 2020 the number of efficient funds is much smaller than in previous periods and this can be justified by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The sectors with the most efficient funds are technology and healthcare. The factors that determine the efficiency of funds in the health sector and the technology sector are quite different, although they have not undergone major changes in the three periods considered. For managers, health funds are seen as low risk and hardly consider the return factors in all analyzed periods, which is often considered as benchmarks for inefficient funds. In the technology sector, Beta and Alpha are generally the indicators with the greatest weight in fund efficiency, showing that these funds beat the market in terms of returns and are less risky than the benchmark. This study seeks to complete the scarce existing literature on the subject, namely in the sectors under analysis, seeking to identify the indicators that fund managers ponder most to consider a fund as efficient. As far as we know, the joint efficiency analysis of these sectors and the impact they suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic are new in the literature.
ABSTRACT
The world is facing several challenges, and the problem of sustainable development is one of the most important. It is worth considering that European countries are playing a significant role as pioneers in building a sustainable world, such as those promises made by signing the Paris Agreement and European Taxonomy. To achieve ambitious targets within sustainable development, a huge amount of capital is necessary, while financial and capital market participants are expected to demonstrate a high level of engagement in the domain of sustainability. Facing growing interest and demand, a relatively new product—the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investment fund—was introduced. Scientific literature is providing some controversial views regarding the overall evaluation of this product. Therefore, additional research providing different angles would contribute to a better understanding. This study examines European ESG funds in the energy sector, from the perspective of news flows and investors. It is worth noting that the authors use the word "European” to refer to members of the European Union (EU). The paper consists of the following parts. In the introduction, the current state of this issue is discussed. The following section offers a literature review and a news flow analysis that contributes to a deeper understanding of these issues. A description of the methodology applied for the data analysis follows this, and the final section presents the research results and conclusions. The authors apply statistical analysis and the Carhart model to determine the differences in the performance of the ESG and conventional funds and use their own tool for text analysis to examine the relevance of the topic of ESG to attract client interest. The authors claim that the performance of the European ESG equity funds do not show a statistically significant difference from the non-ESG equity funds in the majority of the periods examined. The application of the adjusted Carhart model demonstrates that the factor of sustainability has a non-significant and negative effect on the fund performance. Finally, the authors highlight the urgent necessity for the unified usage of keywords and terminology, such as "ESG”, "sustainability”, etc., to ensure comparison and attribution possibilities.
ABSTRACT
After the economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008, the global Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, changing our view of crisis management. The pandemic has led to a significant drop in output, changes in working and educational conditions, and the prediction and management of the speed of transmission of infection. As no one had an effective way to prevent infection, countries were constantly sharing experience and research, and the focus shifted from initial symptomatic treatment to long-term solutions. In the summer of 2020, there was a small optimism around the world, with a decline in infection and death rates, followed by a further decline as restrictions tightened. With the advent of vaccination, there appeared to be a lasting and permanent solution to contain and stop the Covid-19 outbreak, with global vaccination campaigns being launched until the summer of 2021, when the situation returned to some normality, foreign tourism rebounded, and the economy sought to recover. During the pandemic, households initially cut back on consumption, partly because they had to abandon their traditional spending habits and partly because they were more cautious and tended to save. The increased exposure to risk may also have affected the evolution and composition of household wealth. In this paper, we present the evolution of household wealth in the EU-27 and the evolution of the wealth structure in Hungary, with a special focus on the evolution of investment funds. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Using detailed data on company visits by Chinese mutual funds, we provide direct evidence of mutual fund information acquisition activities and the consequent informational advantages mutual funds establish in local firms. Mutual funds are more likely to visit local and nearby firms both in and outside of their portfolios, but the ease of travel between fund and firm locations can substantially alleviate geographic distance constraints. Company visits by mutual funds are strongly associated with both fund trading activities and fund trading performance. Our results show that geographic constraints and costly information acquisition amplify information asymmetry in financial markets.
ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades, the property bubble and the subsequent economic crisis and post-crisis policies have heightened urban inequalities, mainly in cities in southern Europe. The gaps between social classes have widened with the configuration of new urban spaces characterized by segregation and exclusion. Palma is the capital of one of the top tourist destinations in the Mediterranean (the Balearic Islands) and it is usually regarded as a successful tourism model and a land of opportunity for property investors. Nevertheless, serious problems of inequality exist in the city. The centre of this dual city is split between a process of spreading gentrification and the urban blight of its poor neighbourhoods. Son Gotleu is a particular case in point. The neighbourhood is home to a large number of social housing blocks (1960s) with residents from mostly migrant backgrounds. Within a global context of new redefined rent-seeking mechanisms, this article analysed impoverishment in Son Gotleu, based on three variables associated with housing: evictions, foreclosures and the property market. Our study shows that evictions were a determining feature of impoverishment, linked to the emergence of new speculative investment interests. Indeed, investment funds are very probably the most influential urban agents today.
ABSTRACT
As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, the international financial system underwent a fundamental change. The crisis has highlighted various weaknesses in the economic system. One of these weaknesses was the unregulated nature of investment markets and their inefficient structural structure. Funds managed by investment fund managers have also been hit hard by the crisis. In the post-crisis period of 2008, there was a dynamic economic boom, which also affected the types of investment funds and their changes. However, the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 onwards is a special crisis. Its unique nature is reflected in the fact that financial markets have remained stable under the influence of central banks. This, in turn, did not necessarily affect the investment market, and in particular investment funds, as expected in the event of a downturn. In our research, we illustrate the change of investment funds along economic cycles through the quantitative changes of Hungarian investment funds. In our analysis, we illustrate the evolution of fund changes through hierarchical cluster analyzes. In the course of our research, we found that Hungarian investment funds move in line with market and retail investment trends, and the structure of investment funds does not show a significant change during the sixteen years examined, regardless of changes in economic cycles. © Institute of Society Transformation, 2021
ABSTRACT
The article analyzes the literature and provides an assessment of the development of the stock market in the Russian Federation between 2016–2020. Today, the process of improving electronic technologies for carrying out operations in the stock market is also a continuing segment of the financial market. A methodology for assessing the development of the stock market in the example of the Russian Federation is proposed, with a description of the essence of the assessment indicator, the calculation formula and the threshold value. According to the results of the assessment and to the author’s proposed methodology, measures are proposed to improve the work of the stock market.
ABSTRACT
The consequences of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus in the most diverse sectors of the Brazilian economy, are overwhelming, and its effects are still difficult to measure completely. There are several possible scenarios being considered, such as prolonged depression, 'U' or 'V' recovery. Due to such volatility, risks and uncertainties, the investor, before investing, must carefully analyze the alternatives available in the market. Given the above, this article aims to propose different ways of distributing a financial portfolio, considering five investment funds, which were evaluated in the light of five criteria, by two investors who work in the financial market. Therefore, the SAPEVO-M-NC multicriteria decision aid method was used to evaluate the alternatives, as well as their composition in the investment portfolios. The adoption of the methodology made it possible to carry out the distribution of the portfolio in a clear and consistent way, showing itself as an efficient practical tool for the proposed approach. © 2021 The authors and IOS Press.