Download PDF Introduction Headlines over the last few months have been constantly showing investors and economists discussing the various “landing” narratives for the US economy. With many arguing for a soft-landing scenario, while others remained more skeptical. At its core, this debate revolves around a critical question: “What are the Read more…
Download PDF An Introduction to Momentum Strategies In this article we aim to develop a cross-sectional option returns momentum strategy in which we trade the best performing options based on their past returns. This strategy aims to capture both movement in the underlying stock as well as different movements in Read more…
Download PDF Introduction On October 11th, Exxon Mobil Corp [XOM:NYSE] announced its plans to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources [PXD:NYSE] in an all-stock deal for $59.5bn, or $253 per share, representing a premium of 16% to Pioneer’s closing price on October 5th. The implied enterprise value of the transaction, including debt, Read more…
Download PDF Introduction On September 25, 2023, Amazon [NASDAQ: AMZN] announced its investment of up to $4bn in Anthropic, a rival to the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. The news follows a series of large investments by Microsoft [NASDAQ: MSFT], Google [NASDAQ: GOOGL], and Nvidia [NASDAQ: NVDA] into Read more…
Download PDF USA All major stock indexes in the US have witnessed an impressive performance this week, with many analysts attributing this to a seasonal “Santa Rally”. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recorded their best week since November 2022, advancing 5.85% and 6.61%. Similarly, the Dow Jones has increased Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The landscape of weight loss medication is currently undergoing a significant transformation with the emergence of highly effective new drugs. These innovative pharmaceuticals are designed to aid individuals dealing with obesity in shedding substantial body weight, and their performance in clinical trials is exceptionally promising. A notable Read more…
Download PDF Introduction At its core, the private credit industry refers to direct loans not negotiated in the traditional public environment and brings unique characteristics that improve this asset class’s resilience. In times of elevated interest rates, traditional banks have become increasingly conservative in lending policies due to concerns about Read more…
Download PDF Introduction On Friday October 13th, Cboe (Chicago Boards of Exchanges) officially launched four new volatility credit indices. In the current high interest rate environment, investors are becoming increasingly wary of the aggregated impact of high rates on highly levered balance sheet, thus increasing the relevance of the new Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Following the recent re-opening of the IPO market, CVC Capital Partners, the venerable European private equity firm, is said to be preparing to go public. This raises the question of whether doing so is a good idea. It is easy to say that going public is just Read more…
Download PDF Introduction During the last months, and especially from September, long-duration bonds experienced a dramatic sell-off, which pushed yields to historically elevated levels: U.S. long-term interest rates reached the highest level since 2007, while European bonds have not been so attractive since the Euro sovereign debt crisis in 2012. Read more…
Download PDF USA This week in the US, we observed a market recovery following the previous week’s declines, driven largely by the robust Non-Farm Payrolls data. However, by the week’s conclusion, this optimism had waned somewhat, with the S&P managing only a modest 0.4% increase. Leading the way was the Read more…
Download PDF Introduction On October 3rd, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company [LLY:NYSE] announced its plans to strengthen its collection of cancer drugs through the acquisition of POINT Biopharma [PNT:NASDAQ] for $1.4bn, representing a premium of almost 90%. The firm’s purchase of POINT, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company with a focus Read more…
Download PDF US The week in the US markets was marked by choppy trading, with most indices being down during the week but recuperating their losses during the Friday rally. The S&P ended its longest weekly losing streak of the year by closing at +0.48%, the Nasdaq and the Russell Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The idea behind capital structure arbitrage is that the market pricing of equity and debt can diverge away from equilibrium, which might be because different types of investors are active in each market, and they possibly have different opinions about the prospects of a company. Therefore, capital Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Data is now often considered one of the most profitable resources in today’s digital economy, with many of the world’s biggest companies, including Amazon and Meta, benefitting massively from how they collect, analyse and utilise data. Likewise, financial data vendors have been in existence as long as Read more…