Disruption has been the trend of 2025. Upheaval is everywhere, from geopolitics and trade, to the fields of technology, payments, ways of working and more. Does a thematic approach help equity investors to cut through all the noise, or could it be that investment themes or trends are also being disrupted?
What kind of performance can investors expect from Active Quant? In this episode we look at what contributes to the stability of Active Quant, what makes it flexible, and what we really mean when we say ‘systematic alpha capture’.
How much risk are you comfortable with – and how should that affect your investment choices? In the ninth episode of this new series on quant investing, Jeroen Hagens unpacks how different levels of risk appetite influence the use of active quant strategies.
The high-yield bond market has rebounded from April’s tariff-driven sell-off, with US spreads having tightened and European yields holding steady. But investors are being kept on their toes: US policy risks continue to fuel volatility, while divergent dynamics are at play across regions-as-well-as-sectors. Sander Bus and Christiaan Lever discuss the present market environment and the key question: will their quality bias pay off?
Capturing quant alpha requires a blend of innovation and precision. In the eighth episode of this new series on quant investing, we welcome back Vania Sulman, quant portfolio manager, to explain how Robeco captures quant alpha.
In this new episode portfolio manager Vania Sulman explains how the tracking error of an Active Quant approach is managed over the long term, and explains the process of overweights and underweights versus the benchmark. She also talks about how Active Quant differs from an enhanced-indexing approach.
Investing is evolving fast, and next-gen signals are at the forefront of that evolution. But what are they? In the sixth episode of this new series on quant investing, Iman Honarvar Gheysary returns to unpack these developments for us.
The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s return to the White House have been marked by sweeping change: executive actions, heightened trade tensions, and growing uncertainty seem to be the new normal. In this episode, we evaluate how these early policy moves by the new US administration are reshaping the global economic landscape, and what it all means for investors.
‘In times of turmoil you see where the crowded trades are’, says strategist Martin van Vliet. He explains what happened on the bond market that made Trump blink, and discusses where safe havens can be found when US Treasuries crumble.
AI is everywhere – but what does it actually mean for quant investing? In the fifth episode of this new series on quant investing, we speak with Iman Honarvar, Senior Quant Researcher at Robeco, who shares how AI is used today. From scalable infrastructure to real-world applications, Iman reveals how Robeco has built a foundation to make AI truly work – while embracing the human creativity that still drives innovation forward.
President Trump blinked and markets worldwide rally. Is this an opportunity to take risk off the table or are we back in ‘risk on territory’? China faces even higher tariffs, while the historically rock-solid safe-haven status of the US dollar starts to show some cracks.
In this episode we cover five of the key questions clients have dropped with us over the past few days when Trump’s tariffs wreaked havoc on financial markets.
This week’s paradox: ‘we’re witnessing a very significant market event on something that we all saw coming’, says Joshua Crabb, portfolio manager based in Hongkong.
You see indiscriminative selling happening now among hedge funds. First they sell what they could, now they sell whatever they can.
Broad factor groups help explain long-term returns and, indeed, form the framework for quantitative stock selection models. In the fourth of this new series on Quant Investing we meet again with Matthais Hanauer, researcher and director at Robeco, to find out more about the perfect quant stock
Global markets are reeling from unpredictable US policy shifts – from tariff wars to geopolitical moves – all of which has left emerging market equity investors on edge. Positioning portfolios for 2025 and beyond demands a clear grasp of regional, country, and sector dynamics. Investors are looking for alternatives to US Big Tech companies and start adding regions with more attractive valuations and decent prospects.
Academic literature tells us there are more than 300 factors. But not all can be exploited by investors. In this third episode of our new podcast series, Quant researcher Matthias Hanauer explains the five criteria these factors should meet in order to help achieve long-term alpha.
AI has shaken up the investment world, generating impressive stock-market gains for the perceived winners. Is the market now starting to move beyond its obsession with the usual suspects in the AI race? Portfolio managers Jack Neele and Daniel Ernst discuss how they’re dealing with these questions.
Active Quant offers stable, systematic outperformance with predictable risk-return characteristics. But what’s really in it for you? In the second of this new series on Quant Investing we sit down with Jeroen Hagens, Client Portfolio Manager for Quant Equities at Robeco, to get the inside scoop.
Quant investing has been called a ‘black box,’ but is that really the case? In the first of this new series on Quant Investing we sit down with Harald Lohre, Director of Quant Research at Robeco, to break down this myth.
Equity markets are living through one of the most powerful momentum runs in decades, driven in large part by the continued dominance of US large-cap equities. But with valuations soaring, the question is: can the winners keep on winning, or will the momentum train soon lose steam?
In a world in which the momentum factor is a key driver of investor flows, and where investment sentiment is heavily skewed towards US mega-caps, a contrarian view can pay off. Boston Partners portfolio manager Chris Hart talks about opportunities in healthcare, consumer staples, financials and industrials.
Robeco’s one-year outlook, titled ‘This is not a landing’, looks at how the US economy so far skillfully manages to defy all the indicators flashing an immediate recession risk. Peter van der Welle and Colin Graham discuss a broad range of both regions and asset classes in our latest podcast episode.
What 'four more years of Trump' means for financial markets. Erika van der Merwe with Robeco's Colin Graham and Lauren Mariano.
This has been a landmark year for active exchange traded funds. More than 300 new active ETFs have been launched so far in 2024, and around EUR 200 bln investor flows have made their way into this market segment. Why have investors become increasingly eager to get exposure to these not-so-passive investment vehicles?
Markets are preparing for lower rates. Fixed income investors who need their portfolios to keep on generating enough income are having to evaluate their options. For those who don't have the stomach for high yield debt, the investment grade segment of the credit market has some interesting possibilities. Tune in to hear Jan Willem Knoll and Daniel Ender discuss the merits of subordinated debt.
Many investors are still underweight emerging market equities. While the asset class outperformed developed markets by a wide margin in the first decade after the millennium, emerging market equity returns have since lagged, leaving investors with a degree of skepticism. But, looking ahead, one cannot deny the immense promise that many emerging markets now offer. Tune in to hear the views of Vicki Chi and Karnail Sangha.
It’s almost unnerving, watching equity-market indices repeatedly touching new all-time highs. Particularly when the gains are founded on a very select group of stocks, while economic indicators are relatively mixed. In such a set-up – we ask portfolio manager Michiel Plakman – what’s the best strategy for managing a market-beating investment portfolio?
What does it take to truly see the significant shifts taking place in the world around us – those structural themes that might be obscured by the noise, but which require investors’ attention? Daniel Ernst and Sam Brasser are passionate about watching the world, discerning persistent themes and forming views on how to construct portfolios to benefit from them. Tune in to our latest podcast episode.
Anticipating how financial markets might react to the US presidential elections is a tough call for investors. Mike Mullaney, Director of Global Markets Research at Boston Partners, gives some clear guidelines on the scenarios.
