Allocators are wrestling to understand how they should respond to an investment landscape reshaped by a global pandemic strangling economic activity and unleashing powerful public policy responses. This paper is designed to help investors navigate the current dislocated credit markets as they look to determine which strategies are the most appropriate for their particular circumstances.

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom,” wrote
science fiction writer Isaac Asimov—a thought that rings true today as policymakers struggle to catch up with
what’s occurring in the world.

Artificially low rates are causing multiple distortions and pockets of heightened risks and while the current environment may be unprecedented, it need not be incomprehensible. Investors who understand the dynamics driving low rates may be positioned to take advantage of promising opportunities.

Insurance bonds: an asset class that has rewarded long term, buy-and-hold investors

A high relative dividend yield has traditionally been a key attraction for equity investors in the insurance sector. This has particularly been the case in Europe given the backdrop of a low (and declining) yield environment over the past ten years.

Renewable infrastructure possesses several similar characteristics to traditional infrastructure, most notably the defensive nature and the diversified role it can play in portfolios owing to its lower correlation to equities and bonds.

The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 has offered up investment challenges which have not been seen since the GFC of 2008/09, including in the sphere of the currency hedging program.

The two big forces at work and their differential impacts over time

Coronavirus emerged in China, but how has the Chinese government responded, what can we learn from China’s experience and how should investors adapt?

UBS has been speaking with contacts on the ground in China and across Asia to understand the ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak. In this paper, UBS analyse the short- and long-term impacts of the outbreak across key sectors, particularly in China, and show how coronavirus is changing behavior and industries.

China was the first to experience COVID-19 but it is the first to emerge from lockdown. What does the future hold for China’s economy, is there a recovery, and what themes should investors watch out for?

In Twelve’s view the cat bond asset class continues to meet investor expectations during this period of widespread COVID-19 pandemic led market volatility.