Download PDF Introduction After the great years of 2020 and 2021, the cryptocurrency market has been recently going through what many industry analysts believe to be a “crypto winter”, with Bitcoin prices reaching a low of $15,000 in December 2022, falling from almost $60,000 in November 2021. The fall from Read more…
Download PDF US The US stock market closed the month of April with the S&P posting monthly gains for the second month in a row, adding 0.87% for the week and 1.5% for the month. All US indexes closed the week in the green, with the only exception of the Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The Issa Borthers, along with their private equity partner TDR, made the headlines in early 2021 when, out of relative obscurity, they acquired the UK supermarket chain ASDA from the US giant Walmart [NYSE: WMT] for an enterprise value of £6.8bn. Despite having acquired susbtancial wealth through Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The photovoltaic (PV) industry experienced remarkable growth in 2022, as evidenced by the record-breaking new solar installations of 268GW worldwide, an 60% increase from 2021. This surge in demand was primarily fueled by the growing awareness of energy safety and supportive government policies. While the environmental benefits Read more…
Download PDF Introduction This week Merck & Co. announced one of the biggest healthcare deals disclosed so far in 2023. The US drug maker reached an agreement with Prometheus Biosciences to acquire the company in an all-cash transaction that values Prometheus at $10.8bn, a 75% premium to its market cap Read more…
Download PDF Introduction On April 13th Lottomatica announced plans to go public via an IPO seeking a valuation of up to €2.67bn. The gambling company, owned by the alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management [NYSE: APO], intends to list its shares on the Borsa Italiana by the end of April Read more…
Download PDF US The US stock market closed the third week of April with marginal losses, as the first full week of earnings season ended. The main indexes ranged from -0.42% for the Nasdaq, to +0.58% for the Russell, while the CBOE Volatility Index hit its lowest since January 2022, Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Starting in 1992, a field of financial economics research emerged that has spewed out hundreds of so-called factors that help explain the “cross-section of expected returns”. Harvey and Liu (2019) [6] provide a taxonomy of some 400 different factors which they classify into 6 so-called “common” classes Read more…
Download PDF Introduction We have seen some of the unique trading instruments introduced by the crypto space in our last article, namely perpetual futures and inverse futures and options. Building on our knowledge from another prior article where we introduced cryptocurrencies, basic blockchain infrastructure, as well as some decentralized finance Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Straddling into earnings is a long-volatility trading strategy that consists of entering a long straddle position right before companies’ earnings announcements and closing it after the earnings are released. By buying a straddle before an earnings announcement, investors are betting that the stock will experience a large Read more…
Download PDF US The second week of April was again positive for the US stock market, with the main indexes ranging from +0.29% for the Nasdaq, to +1.52% for the Russell. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are now 18% and 25% off the October lows respectively, trusting the ability Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Endeavour Group, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, announced its plans to acquire WWE, the world’s largest professional wrestling organization, on April 3rd, 2023, creating one of the world’s greatest sports entertainment corporations, valued at $18.4bn. WWE has mostly lost its pop culture appeal and youthful following Read more…
Downlooad PDF Introduction Sweden has been widely regarded as a model for social welfare and economic prosperity, and its housing market, GDP, and inflation rates are key indicators of its economic stability. However, the Swedish housing market has been a source of concern in recent times, with some claiming that Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Semiconductors have become the backbone of the world’s economy. That is not a ground-breaking, yet the paramount consequences should be appreciated. Semiconductors (or chips) are used in every modern piece of technology, ranging from phones and laptops to cars and military equipment. Control over the supply chain Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Transaction costs are a critical component of trading strategies, as they can have a significant impact on returns. Institutional investors need to be able to accurately model transaction costs to make informed decisions in backtesting and optimising their strategies. In this article, we will explore the various Read more…