“You can always tell when it is a meaningful conference on sustainable investment, instead of a talking shop”, said a witty sustainability expert to Spy over lychee and lime martinis, “the ratio of men to women changes completely.” She was pointing out that in sustainable investment circles, certainly in Europe, but largely true of Asia and the US, too, “At a conference, attendee balance goes from 50/50 men and women to 90/10, if there is real money involved. For all the talk of women in finance (of any kind), far too often the purse strings are still held by blokes in suits. Women may have some say over policy and play prominent roles in advocacy and marketing, but the cash remains firmly in male hands. If sustainable investment is going to change, it is vital that more women are given the opportunity to deploy real resources”. It is hard to disagree, reckons Spy.
Spy can only imagine the discussion in the marketing room. “Every single thing possible has been wrapped up in an ETF, what are we going to do now? Ummmm. I know what, let’s take a single company and wrap up that in an ETF! Err, why? Leverage dummy! Leverage. We can do 2x and negative daily directionals. The Gamestop gamblers will love it.” Well, something like that, surely. Leverage Shares, a European firm, has filed to launch seven 2x funds and six inverse funds that will cover only single stocks in the US. The ETF manager plans to offer 2x long ETFs that will supposedly double the daily return of Apple, AMD, ASML Holding, Boeing, Coinbase, Nvidia and Tesla. The other six ETFs will try and double the “inverse” exposure to Arm Holdings, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, TSMC and Tesla. Whatever floats (or sinks) your boat, supposes Spy.
How would you rate the paragraph above, on a scale of one to 10? Would you recommend that paragraph to a friend or family? Was there anything wrong with that paragraph you would like to share with Spy. Spy really appreciates your feedback…Is it just Spy or has the ubiquitous, asking for feedback on Every Single Thing in public life reached utterly ridiculous proportions? Every meal, every call to the bank, every flight, every hotel, every interaction with every website, every damn company results in an email, or a pop-up or a text asking for “your valuable feedback”. Spy would be delighted to give the entire world some feedback: he is absolutely sick to death of the feedback requests and, to be honest, they are annoying the hell out him. Marketers, please, just because Hubspot or Salesforce Pardot allows you to get automated feedback – please think very carefully before implementing it so widely.
BlackRock may own the iShares passive juggernaut but it is not adverse to a little active ETF action. The giant has just launched its Large Cap Growth ETF on the Nasdaq. Spy is not entirely sure why another large-cap growth strategy is required. It is not particularly cheap, either, with an expense ratio of 0.55%. In a rather traditional sounding investment thesis, “investment decisions are made based on a thorough analysis of various valuation parameters, relative to anticipated earnings growth rates and potential returns on equity.” The largest positions are: Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Visa. The fund can invest up to 20% of assets in non-US firms. Not exactly much new to see here.
Hat tip to Pictet Asset Management for a rather thought-provoking insight piece on brand innovation. It is worth reading in full. The portfolio managers are thinking about apparel brands and in particular sporting brands where the consumers are fickle and demanding, “Chinese enterprises understand that what consumers are looking for isn’t necessarily a technological big bang, but, rather, just something new. For established sports brands, the cost of that renewal can be staggeringly expensive.” In other words, the companies that maintain a design edge, rather an innovation edge, can be the winners. Spy suspects this thinking applies to many other areas of modern consumption, not just sporting wear.
Lies, damned lies and statistics, reckons Spy. One of the most extraordinary things to be uttered from a major central banker arrived this week in the form of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. He said, “There is an argument that payrolls may be a bit overstated.” In real world translation, “The government is lying through its back teeth because there is an election year ahead.” Governments, around the world, have been massaging the jobs, GDP and debt figures for years but it is very seldom that a prominent banker utters the plain truth.
Spy can’t let the departure, to pastures new, of Fund Selector Asia’s own Gareth Wilde pass without comment. Gareth has recently stepped down from the Mark Allen Group, owner of Fund Selector Asia and PA Future, among other brands after 10 years. Gareth, from your humble Spy and all the FSA team in Asia, we wish you well in the next phase of your career.
Spy’s quote of the week comes from miserable but brilliant British author, George Orwell, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”. The same thing could be said of fund marketing blurb on occasion, notes Spy.
Until next week…
