Categories
Market Dynamics Smart Alpha View from the Edge

Market Weather Report – Round the Horn

One reason that we call this report “The Weather report” is that the analogies with multiple elements  of Value, Momentum and Uncertainty impacting markets in a continuous way chimes with the idea of Currents, Tides and Winds, all impacting the navigation of the high seas. Whatever the nature of the vessel concerned or the skills, experience […]

Categories
Equity Market Data General Smart Alpha

Libra-IS brings you Apollo:

In the world of data – quality is everything. We have now made Apollo data even more accessible and user friendly as the whole database can now be delivered seamlessly to your workflows via Snowflake  – a data warehouse built for the cloud.

Categories
Market Dynamics Smart Alpha

Am I hallucinating?

As the (still ongoing) fallout from the market turmoil starts to be evaluated, there has been a natural temptation to rationalise and understand recent activity through the traditional lens of cause and effect:  “… (A) market response to an (un)anticipated event occurred because Event X threatened to provoke subsequent (negative) Outcome Y and markets reacted […]

Categories
Smart Alpha

The Weather Forecast : Q2 2025

Welcome to the Weather Forecast
As we continue to roll out our Smart Alpha strategies, we are publishing a regular newsletter – the Weather forecast that looks at how Smart Alpha strategies can help navigate the current investment climate.

Categories
Smart Alpha View from the Edge

How to be Smart with Alpha

The team here at Libra Investment Services have been analysing global economies and markets for the best part of 40 years and, over that time have seen how the interaction of macro and micro trends, stock level financials and thematic and sector dynamics influence  and, ultimately, drive the complex adaptive system that is the financial market. […]

Categories
General Portfolio Construction Smart Alpha

Factor facts

One of the most significant investment developments of recent years has been the emergence of factor-based investing as a mainstay of investment management.

Categories
Portfolio Construction Smart Alpha

Sprinting for Lent

As we start a new Smart Alpha “Sprint period” for out S&P500 based Strategy, it is worth reviewing how we have performed so far this year.

Categories
Portfolio Construction Smart Alpha

Inquiring minds…(II)

In Part I of the inquiry, I set out some of the structural problems that the Finance Industry is facing in the wake of the macroeconomic adjustments we experienced over the last 18 months or so  and the impact that they have had on portfolio returns both in 2022 and in the future. In part II I take a closer look at the range of investment approaches – from passive to active currently being operated in the market and at the types of investment models underpinning them.

Categories
General Portfolio Construction Smart Alpha

Inquiring minds… 

Yet again, the financial industry has had to start the year on the back foot. As lists of dramatic fund level underperformances circulate in the media, the explanations, rationalisations and justifications for failure are being delivered via fund reports and year ahead presentations.

Categories
Portfolio Construction Reader FAQs View from the Edge

Value doesn’t last forever…

We have recently introduced a new feature on the Apollo Edge platform that allows investors to “Smart Filter” their portfolios or watchlists at the stock level, using our proprietary investment factor groupings of Value, Re-rating, Growth or De-rating.