12 April 2018

The VIX Mirage and the Portfolio Insurance Paradox

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Written by Ayman Ismail Abdel Hamid, CFA

At the advent of 29 of January, we woke up to a major selloff on Wall Street. The selloff — or the loss streak, as we call it on the street — went on until 8 February, with the market losing more than $1 trillion in value and the S&P plummeting 9.6%. What happened?

We can write at least ten volumes on reasons behind the selloff, ranging from strong reported wage growth, expectations for above-average inflation, and concerns that the Fed would speed up its planned interest rate hikes. Later in February, when most of these expectations turned out to be true, the market rebounded and the indices started to rise again. Read More

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17 November 2017

The 2018 Middle East Investment Conference to Take Place in Cairo

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International thought leaders, policymakers, industry experts, and key market participants will convene in Cairo, Egypt on 17 April for the 2018 Middle East Investment Conference. The event will discuss trends shaping the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as its role in the global economy.

This conference builds on the success of the 2017 event, which took place in Abu Dhabi. H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court was its patron. Previous years’ patrons have included the Central Bank of Bahrain; His Excellency Anas K. Al-Saleh, Minister of Finance, State of Kuwait; and His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan.

In previous years, the event has offered several insights for serious investment professionals:

Hosted by CFA Society Egypt, the 2017 Middle East Investment Conference will continue in this tradition, offering a unique opportunity for delegates to gain firsthand insights from leading experts and network with like-minded peers.

All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

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3 May 2016

Technology, Demography, and the Future of Economic Growth

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Dambiso MoyoDemographic shifts and technological advancements — what effects will these factors have on the global economy?

Two wildly different ones, but together they will exert a massive influence on economic growth and the outlook for the world economy for generations, according to economist and author Dambisa Moyo, in her address at the CFA Institute Middle East Investment Conference 2016 in Bahrain.

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20 April 2016

Three Simple Steps to Improve Your Memory

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Chester Santos

Did you exercise this morning? Perhaps you ran a few miles or completed several circuits in the gym? How about your brain? Did you exercise that, too?

I’m guessing not, so here’s a little exercise to get you going: I want you to memorize these 15 words: monkey, iron, rope, kite, house, paper, shoe, worm, envelope, pencil, river, rock, tree, cheese, quarter. You’ve got five minutes. Don’t write anything down. Ready, set, GO!

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19 April 2016

Lord Adair Turner: Are Governments and Central Banks Out of Ammunition? 

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Lord Adair Turner Are Governments and Central Banks Out of Ammunition 

Why has the post-crisis recovery been so disappointing? Are we stuck in a world of diminished prospects and subdued demand?

These were the key questions Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and author of Between Debt and the Devil, sought to answer in his wide-ranging keynote address at the 2016 Middle East Investment Conference in Bahrain. And his responses, while nuanced, offered some hope — and potential solutions — for the global economy in the years ahead.

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15 April 2016

Willis Sparks on Geopolitics and Markets: The Enemy Is Uncertainty

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Willis Sparks

Willis Sparks, director of global macro at Eurasia Group, has a perspective that should be familiar to investment professionals: Markets hate uncertainty.

“Uncertainty creates volatility,” he explained during his presentation at the 2016 Middle East Investment Conference. “Markets like good news. Markets dislike bad news, but markets hate uncertainty.”
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14 April 2016

As Oil Prices Stay Lower for Longer, MENA Charts a Path Forward

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As Oil Prices Stay Lower for Longer, MENA Charts a Path Forward

In early 2015, an ongoing slump in oil prices had experts discussing whether the decline was structural or cyclical in nature. Later that year, headlines announced that sovereign wealth funds managed by oil-rich countries were selling some of the assets in their portfolios, possibly in an attempt to fill gaps in national budgets hit by low commodity prices. Conversations about diversifying into non-petroleum–based sources of revenue had been ongoing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for some time, but at the start of 2016, Saudi Arabia announced that it would consider selling shares in the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil company.

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4 April 2016

Social Media at the 2016 Middle East Investment Conference

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Social network
You can keep up with the CFA Institute Middle East Investment Conference online in several ways.

Find CFA Institute news and information here:

Twitter

For updates from CFA Institute:


For news and insight for Europe, Middle East, and Africa from our London office:


For news about CFA Institute events and speakers:


You can follow conference-related tweets — or issue your own — with the #MEIC16 hashtag.

LinkedIn

Get updates from the CFA Institute company page on LinkedIn:


Facebook Keep up to date on the content coming out of the conference by following us on Facebook:

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Middle East Investment Conference blog and be on the lookout for a live broadcast of Willis Sparks’ session as the event is underway.

The content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute.
Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/VLADGRIN

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18 March 2016

3 Key Elements for Successful Geopolitical Analysis

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In a world of bewildering informational complexity, an understanding of the ways that people, power, personal preferences and geography converge to influence future trends is essential to management success. Studying these convergences is better known as geopolitical analysis. Careful application of the precepts of geopolitical analysis not only provides insight into current events, but also sometimes leads to accurate predictions of future events. To some degree, many investors appear to be aware that geopolitics is important.
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14 March 2016

Dambisa Moyo Identifies a Key Challenge and Opportunity for Prosperity

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What are the factors to look at when considering current global demographic shifts as part of an investment strategy? Global economist and author Dambisa Moyo feels that “Human capital will be both a key source of challenge and of opportunity for enhancing the prospects for long-term global prosperity.” Unfortunately, from Moyo’s perspective, “We don’t treat it that way.” Read More

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