Global Perspectives: Seeking to mitigate risk with Alternatives
Steve Cain and David Elms from the Diversified Alternatives team join Adam Hetts, Global Head of Portfolio Construction and Strategy, to discuss liquid alternatives at a time when investors are re-evaluating more traditional portfolio allocation philosophies.
34 minute listen
Key takeaways:
- Inflation remains a key factor in determining the shape of investors’ portfolios. A lot depends on whether we are at the end of the inflationary cycle, with disinflation ahead, or if inflation is going to be more persistent.
- We believe a multi-strategy approach should be designed to deliver consistent, long-term returns uncorrelated to traditional assets and seek to balance exposure to a range of adaptive “alternative” strategies designed to thrive in abnormal market environments.
- The ability to adjust exposure to the varying underlying strategies is a powerful tool that can help investors to capture different forms of stress or opportunity in the marketplace.
Basis point (bp) equals 1/100 of a percentage point. 1 bp = 0.01%, 100 bps = 1%.
Beta measures the volatility of a security or portfolio relative to an index. Less than one means lower volatility than the index; more than one means greater volatility.
A call option is a derivatives contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to buy a specified amount of an underlying security at a specified price within a specified time.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an unmanaged index representing the rate of inflation of the U.S. consumer prices as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.
Correlation measures the degree to which two variables move in relation to each other. A value of 1.0 implies movement in parallel, -1.0 implies movement in opposite directions, and 0.0 implies no relationship.
Coupon: A regular interest payment that is paid on a bond. It is described as a percentage of the face value of an investment. For example, if a bond has a face value of £100 and a 5% annual coupon, the bond will pay £5 a year in interest.
Covariance measures the directional relationship between the returns on two assets. A positive covariance means asset returns move together, while a negative covariance means they move inversely.
Duration measures a bond price’s sensitivity to changes in interest rates. The longer a bond’s duration, the higher its sensitivity to changes in interest rates and vice versa.
Margin call: A margin call occurs when a margin account runs low on funds, usually because of a losing trade.
Portfolio protection: Preservation-of-capital techniques include diversifying holdings over different asset classes and choosing assets that are non-correlating.
Put options give holders of the option the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a specified price within a specified time frame.
Polarity: The idea that former support turns into resistance and former resistance turns into support.
Risk premia: In alternatives investing, risk premia are investment strategies that aim to systematically isolate and harvest excess returns from exposure to specific risk factors or returns arising from behavioral or structural market anomalies.
Option skew: The observation that not all options on the same underlying asset and expiration have the same implied volatility assigned to them in the market.
SPAC: A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is formed to raise money through an initial public offering (IPO) to buy another company.
Standard Deviation measures historical volatility. Higher standard deviation implies greater volatility.
Tail risk: The risk that the performance of an investment will move more than three standard deviations away from the mean suggested by a normal distribution curve. These are considered events that have a small probability of occurring, but which could have a significant effect on performance were they to arise. They occur at both ends of a normal distribution curve, with ‘left-hand tail risk’ the term used to describe negative tail risk factors, and ‘right-hand tail risk’ describing unlikely events that would have a positive impact on performance
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Fixed income securities are subject to interest rate, inflation, credit and default risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices usually fall, and vice versa.
High-yield bonds, or “junk” bonds, involve a greater risk of default and price volatility.
Foreign securities, including sovereign debt, are subject to currency fluctuations, political and economic uncertainty and increased volatility and lower liquidity, all of which are magnified in emerging markets.
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This information is issued by Janus Henderson Investors (Australia) Institutional Funds Management Limited (AFSL 444266, ABN 16 165 119 531). The information herein shall not in any way constitute advice or an invitation to invest. It is solely for information purposes and subject to change without notice. This information does not purport to be a comprehensive statement or description of any markets or securities referred to within. Any references to individual securities do not constitute a securities recommendation. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
Whilst Janus Henderson Investors (Australia) Institutional Funds Management Limited believe that the information is correct at the date of this document, no warranty or representation is given to this effect and no responsibility can be accepted by Janus Henderson Investors (Australia) Institutional Funds Management Limited to any end users for any action taken on the basis of this information. All opinions and estimates in this information are subject to change without notice and are the views of the author at the time of publication. Janus Henderson Investors (Australia) Institutional Funds Management Limited is not under any obligation to update this information to the extent that it is or becomes out of date or incorrect.
34 minute listen
Key takeaways:
- Inflation remains a key factor in determining the shape of investors’ portfolios. A lot depends on whether we are at the end of the inflationary cycle, with disinflation ahead, or if inflation is going to be more persistent.
- We believe a multi-strategy approach should be designed to deliver consistent, long-term returns uncorrelated to traditional assets and seek to balance exposure to a range of adaptive “alternative” strategies designed to thrive in abnormal market environments.
- The ability to adjust exposure to the varying underlying strategies is a powerful tool that can help investors to capture different forms of stress or opportunity in the marketplace.