Robeco Asset Management Podcast

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 arethey? 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.

Delve into the exciting intersection of AI and quant investing! Discover how recent advancements are reshaping the landscape, from enhancing report writing to analyzing risk factors. Explore the balance between innovative AI applications and the challenges of building robust infrastructure. The discussion also touches on the historical impact of technology on finance jobs, revealing both challenges and new opportunities arising from this digital evolution.

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.

Joshua Crabb, the Head of Asian Equities at Robeco, shares his insights on the recent turmoil in global markets stemming from US tariff hikes. He discusses the paradox of watching a significant market event unfold that many anticipated. Crabb emphasizes the impact of these tariffs on investment strategies and the resulting anxiety over technology valuations. He also highlights the importance of strategic patience and proactive portfolio adjustments to navigate this volatility, while identifying opportunities in resilient companies.