To Time or not to Time Factors? Factors, Quant & Systematic It has sometimes been portrayed as the Battle of the Quants. For some years now, AQR founder Cliff Asness and Research Affiliates founder Rob Arnott have been at loggerheads over the question of whether you can time factors or not. And it is a question that has occupied the minds of many asset owners, not […] Read More
PKA raises Questions about Factors Asset Allocation & Strategy, Asset Owners, Chief Investment Officers, Factors, Quant & Systematic Danish pension fund PKA was one of the first institutional investors to implement a factors-based investment approach. But the recent dismal performance of these strategies is testing the faith of the fund, Deputy CIO Michael Flycht says. Read More
PGGM Questions Over-diversification and Benchmarks Asset Owners, Factors, Quant & Systematic, In-house Management Most asset owners are over-diversified and rely too much on market capitalisation weighted benchmarks for them to deliver optimal long term pension benefits, Dutch pension fund PGGM says. Read More
Forget Big Data, It’s about Tiny Data Factors, Quant & Systematic, Innovation Systematic investing today is about finding signals in lots of tiny data and you need humans to give it context, Two Sigma CEO says. Read More
Does Factor Investing Work in Private Markets? Factors, Quant & Systematic BlackRock’s Andrew Ang believes that ultimately all investment returns can be explained by factors. But you would be wrong to think this means you can package each asset class neatly up into an exchange-traded fund. Read More
What Trait Psychology Tells Us about Factor Investing Factors, Quant & Systematic, MarketFox MarketFox columnist Daniel Grioli looks at the similarities in statistical methods between trait psychology and factor investing, and considers what this might tell us about our investment framework. Read More
Seeking Alpha in Crisis Asset Allocation & Strategy, Factors, Quant & Systematic, Private & Alternative Markets Crisis risk offset sleeves have drawn increasingly more attention from institutional investors, but what do these portfolios actually contain? With bond yields at historic low levels and interest rates rising many institutional investors are questioning whether the negative correlation between equities and bonds – the very foundation of the widely used ‘balance portfolio’ in the […] Read More
Quants Part III – Using the Right Tools for the Job Asset Allocation & Strategy, Factors, Quant & Systematic, MarketFox In this final instalment on quants, MarketFox columnist Daniel Grioli looks at the influence of investors’ time horizon on the usefulness of quantitative techniques. I’ve received several comments from readers defending the usefulness of quantitative techniques. They are definitely useful and they have been widely adopted. Which is why its important to understand their limits. […] Read More
Quants Part II – Quants and Market Timing Factors, Quant & Systematic, MarketFox In part two of the series ‘Quants and Market Timing’, MarketFox columnist Daniel Grioli draws attention to the point that the tools available to us for measuring determine how we phrase questions and hence influences the outcomes. Read More