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Playing MSCI’s quarterly rebalances

4 March 2026Stocksequity trading, index rebalancing, MSCINick Dunbar

Every quarter, MSCI’s index rebalancing announcements offer a potential windfall to traders who take positions in added or deleted stocks. A Risky Finance visualisation shows how it works.

How the S&P 500 moved into hyperspace

5 January 2026StocksAnthropic, Nvidia, OpenAINick Dunbar

Two new visualisations show how AI transformed the S&P 500, and will continue to do so in the future

Plummeting bonds reflect souring UK mood for outsourcing and privatisation

20 June 2024Credithigh yield bonds, outsourcing, privatisation, utilitiesNick Dunbar

Bonds issued by Atos and Thames Water are trading at distressed levels as investors prepare for a changed climate after the UK election

Leviathans of the S&P 500

7 June 2024Stocksartificial intelligence, equity indices, S&P 500, technologyNick Dunbar

The top-heaviness of the S&P 500 index has a quality all of its own, with tech companies rivalling nation states

The self-fulfilling prophecy of public sector pensions

22 March 2024Pensions, Risk Commentaryeducation, pensions, public policy, schoolsNick Dunbar

How costly are unfunded public sector defined benefit pensions? The question looms large in the economic future of the UK.

Corporate debt bar chart race

29 December 2023Creditcorporate bondsNick Dunbar

How have the world’s biggest corporate borrowers changed since 2016?

Money funds ride the QT wave

19 October 2023Fundscash, deposits, Federal Reserve, government bonds, money market fundsNick Dunbar

The seven biggest money market funds used the Fed’s overnight repo facility to help boost their assets by 50% in just 18 months, while bank deposits have plunged. Now, with quantitative tightening, their strategy is changing.

Charting China’s real estate bond meltdown

29 August 2023Credit, Risk CommentaryChina, corporate bonds, distressed debt, real estateNick Dunbar

Our corporate bond tool shows that dollar-denominated Chinese real estate bonds are collectively worth just 12% of their total value two years ago. By analysing iBoxx departures and distressed prices, we firm up this analysis and look at the wider implications for China’s troubled economy.

The last rites of BP’s pension fund

14 July 2023Articles, Pensions, Risk Commentaryinterest rates, pensions, taxationNick Dunbar

BP’s pension scheme was once a leading stakeholder in UK companies, but now it’s been ‘de-risked’ and may soon be hived off to an insurer. The story encapsulates the slow decline of Britain’s private sector defined benefit pension system.

Inflation and the return of corporate borrowing

8 June 2023Credithealthcare, inflation, utilitiesNick Dunbar

High interest rates were a dampener on corporate borrowing but now the trend has reversed, led by two sectors with their own inflationary characteristics

How Japan is changing, in...
Japan's financial markets are undergoing profound ...
Playing MSCI’s quarterl...
Every quarter, MSCI's index rebalancing announceme...
How the S&P 500 moved int...
Two new visualisations show how AI transformed the...
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