How Best to go about Investing Offshore

Given the compelling reasons for investing offshore, which include diversification benefits, reduced emerging-market and currency risk, and maintenance of “hard” currency spending power, how best should investors go about investing offshore?

The answer depends on investors’ personal circumstances, risk profile and long-term financial planning objectives. Investec therefore suggest that investors consult a professional financial adviser who can help identify investment products that address their specific requirements, which may include:

Investing in an FSCA-approved collective

Women’s Jobs at risk in Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will have a disproportionately negative impact on the economic prospects of women, although the emphasis on talent brought about by sweeping changes caused by disruptions to the labour force will result in more women progressing into senior positions, a new study by the World Economic Forum has found.

According to The Industry Gender Gap Report, published yesterday in Davos, the burden of job losses that will result from automation and disinter-mediation as a result of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact on women and men relatively equally, with 52 per cent of the 5.1 million net job losses expected globally between now and 2020 affecting men, compared with 48 per cent affecting women. However, the fact that those women make up a smaller share of the workforce means  that today’s economic gender gap may widen even further than the current 40 per cent.

 

This blow to gender equality can be explained by the fact that some of the roles most at risk from automation and disintermediation are those that are performed by a larger proportion of women; for example, in the Office and Administrative” job family. However, it is also partly a result of the fact that women are relatively under-represented when it comes to jobs that are expected to have the most growth in the next five years; for example, the Computer and Mathematical and Architecture and Engineering job families.

Daily Checkup: Sleep apnea has serious consequences for up to 20 million Americans; many remain undiagnosed

The Specialist:

As the director of the sleep surgery program at Mount Sinai, Dr. Fred Lin treats patients who have complicated cases of sleep apnea that require surgery. Lin works with more than 500 patients a year with sleep apnea.

 

 

Who’s at risk:

About 50% of Americans snore while they’re sleeping. And for millions of people, that snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea.

“Sleep apnea is a form of sleep-disordered breathing in which the airway becomes narrowed as the tissues and muscles surrounding it relax,” says Dr. Fred Lin, director of the sleep surgery program at Mount Sinai. “The brain corrects for this suffocation by jerking the patient between deep sleep and light sleep, and even momentary awakening, though the individual doesn’t necessarily remember it.” Some 18-20 million Americans are living with sleep apnea, though doctors estimate that 80-90% of them remain undiagnosed.

Warning over corporate bond market

"There's a worry that there's no buyers of bonds and that on any given day everyone might want to sell," he said.

The past few months have seen a number of market watchers express concern about the $10tn corporate bond market.

Corporate bonds allow companies to sell their debt to investors, and operate in a similar way to government bonds. 

 

In a speech last week, Mr Gilbert warned of the systemic risk of a run on the corporate bond market and called on the Bank of England and other central banks to act as "buyers of last resort".

Foreing Portfolio EMs turn negative in August, IIF

Turmoil on the world’s financial markets has hit foreign portfolio investment flows to emerging markets (EMs), which turned negative this month for the first time in 2015 according to estimates by the Institute of International Finance.

Aversion to EM risk was strongest in equities. The IIF expects outflows by cross-border equity investors to total $8.7bn in August, after outflows of an estimated $100m in July and inflows of $800m in June.

Flows to EM bonds remained positive in August at $4.2bn, after $6.2bn in July and $3.3bn in June. But the IIF said 7-day and 28-day moving averages of flows for both asset classes turned negative in the month.

 

On August 24 alone — the last day for which it collected data

Nigeria Elevated Risk, AS Economic Storms from US to China

Nigeria is currently facing elevated risks to its economy from the twin prospects of a rate hike in the United States (U.S) and further slowdown in Chinese economic output.

A U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) rate rise is likely to exacerbate global financial market volatility and add to currency pressures in Sub Sahara Africa, according to Bismarck Rewane, CEO of consulting firm Financial Derivatives Company (FDC).

 

“An interest rate hike in developed economies will trigger capital flow reversals from emerging economies such as Nigeria,” Rewane said in a presentation he made at the Lagos Business School.

IFTA Webinar: The Four Faces of Risk, Presented by Dr. Howar

Join IFTA's next webinar: The Four Faces of Risk: Defining and Managing Risk in Trading System Development and Trading Managment  Date/Time: Wednesday. 15 July, 2015; 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST Presenter: Dr. Howard Bandy  REGISTER FOR WEBINAR!

Airbus Cover reports of state aid

Ray Conner, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said subsidies or loans for a new airliner would breach World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

Airbus said it would not comment as it had not yet decided on a revamped A380.

 

The two aerospace giants were locked in years of litigation over accusations that each received state funding.

Foreign Investors may seek Flight on US Fed rate hike

As the U.S. Fed’s first rate increase approaches, foreign investors in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, may be set to dump stocks and bonds, a risk that most investors have yet to come to price in.

 

“Foreign ownership can be a risk – more on the bond side than the equity side. If equity investors all try to flee a market, the price of the equities falls dramatically and therefore the dollar value of money that may leave the market gets smaller (as the share price gets smaller),” said Charles Robertson, Renaissance Capital’s global chief economist, in a response to questions.