central banks – Benefits Canada.com

DB pensions staring down paltry bond returns heading into 2021

mschmit — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 05:35:02 +0000

Central banks slowing their quantitative easing policies and economic improvements off the back of wide-scale vaccination efforts should both provide bond yields with a modest boost in 2021. But that won’t give defined benefit pension plan sponsors much relief. “You hear the phrase ‘low for long’ and I would agree we’re in an extended period […]

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A path forward for institutional investors amid market headwinds

mschmit — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 04:02:24 +0000

The impact of powerful trends, including aging populations and growing debt levels in the world’s largest economies, has been somewhat mitigated in recent years by the ongoing involvement of central banks in markets and declining interest rates. However, with rates at historic lows, this is not something that can be relied on over the next […]

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IMF head says global economy facing long climb to recovery

mschmit — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 04:34:36 +0000

The head of the International Monetary Fund says that the global economy has started on a long climb to stronger growth with prospects looking a little better than four months ago. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Tuesday that global economic activity suffered an unprecedented fall in the spring when 85 per cent of the […]

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DB pensions’ funding positions recovering, but major risks ahead: reports

mschmit — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 04:09:00 +0000

The funded positions of Canadian defined benefit pension plans continued to recover in the third quarter of 2020, but major risks lie ahead, according to both Mercer Canada’s latest pension health index and Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey. Mercer’s index, which represents the solvency ratio of a hypothetical DB pension plan, increased from 101 […]

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Bank of Canada warns of uneven recovery despite better than expected bounce back

mschmit — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 08:42:54 +0000

The Bank of Canada sought Wednesday to temper economic excitement about a sharper-than-expected rebound from the depths of the coronavirus crisis, pointing to worrying trends that signal all is still not well. In a statement, the central bank’s governing council said the bounce-back activity in the third quarter looks to be faster than it anticipated […]

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Is inflation back on institutional investors’ minds?

mschmit — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 04:37:39 +0000

While massive monetary policy response didn’t drive inflation following the 2008/09 financial crisis, institutional investors are mulling over whether things may be different this time. The global economy has rarely seen such a swift willingness to engage with economic calamity on both monetary and fiscal levels, says Erik Weisman, chief economist and fixed income portfolio […]

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Are markets being driven by FOMO?

mschmit — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 07:50:18 +0000

As central banks stepped into the market to fund operating losses, the ability to raise capital has usurped the natural function of markets: price discovery, says Rob Almeida, investment officer and global investment strategist at MFS Investment Management. Many companies have experienced an epic year raising capital because both good and bad businesses have been […]

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Will yield curve control come to North America?

mschmit — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:19:28 +0000

With central banks targeting short-term interest rates near zero and engaging in quantitative easing, will they resort to other monetary policy tools like yield curve control to further stimulate the economy? Yield curve control is when a central bank targets a longer-term interest rate and then pledges to buy the required amount of bonds to […]

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What’s next for monetary policy on other side of coronavirus crisis?

mschmit — Wed, 13 May 2020 06:47:16 +0000

Monetary and fiscal policy-makers around the world are taking different approaches to tackling the current economic crisis, but their actions today will pose challenges down the road, says Erik Weisman, chief economist at MFS Investment Management. Looking at combined monetary and fiscal policy responses, the U.S. is likely the most aggressive, while Europe and Japan […]

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A crisis of conventional thinking in central banking

mschmit — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 05:12:08 +0000

Historically, financial institution decision-makers come from the same educational backgrounds, which have rewarded them for thinking in linear and conventional ways, said David McWilliams, professor of global economics at Trinity College Dublin, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review’s Plan Sponsor Exchange conference in February. The single biggest concentration of conventional thinkers is deep […]

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