The Big Structural Upside In Japanese Equities

by | Feb 1, 2015 | Market Insights Alerts

Since late 2012, coinciding with the election of reformist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese equity markets have surged nearly 70% (in local currency) in the past two years. Yet ‘Abenomics’, as the set of ambitious and bold fiscal and monetary policies pursued by the Abe Administration have been dubbed, have thus far failed to move the appetites of Japanese household savings. But there is reason to believe that Japan is on the precipice of reordering its domestic savings structure as soon as this year, with potentially significant implications for its equity markets.

Will Emerging Markets Continue To Dance When The Fed Stops Playing?

by | Oct 1, 2014 | Market Insights Alerts

There is no shortage of prognostication on which assets/ strategies will be most/least impacted as the Fed and the BOE become less accommodative, and how they will be affected. How we answer both questions will be critical to performance over the next year or so. This paper evaluates the likely path and impact of Fed tightening with specific focus on the counterbalancing effects of asynchronous monetary policies globally and the likely impact of Fed tightening on EM risk assets.

View Q4, 2014 Webinar

by | Sep 26, 2014 | Webinars

Tina Byles Williams, CEO/CIO of FIS Group leads a wide-ranging discussion on FIS Group’s view of geopolitical, demographic and macroeconomic trends shaping risk and investable opportunities for institutional investors.
The panel moderator Sam Austin, III, SVP Director of Marketing and Client Service (FIS Group) and Ms. Byles Williams conducted this discussion as a part of FIS Group’s third annual Investment Symposium. The event was held on September 26, 2014 in Philadelphia.
FIS Group, Inc. is an 20-year old Philadelphia based institutional asset management firm that focuses on investing in long-only global and international equity strategies.

Arabian Nights: Mysteries On The Frontier

by | Sep 1, 2014 | Market Insights Alerts

In the first half of 2014, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index substantially outperformed its actively managed peer group. The degree of this outperformance is deeply ahistorical for major equities classes and poses several implications for manager selection and evaluation. This paper examines the unique structure of this market rally in an effort to better understand the frontier markets environment, assess the complicated interplay between index structure and performance measurement, and discusses how allocators should evaluate and respond to these special circumstances.