Perspectives

After years of U.S. market dominance, the tide may be turning. MSCI's Ashley Lester and Axel Kilian reveal what they're hearing from global investors—from rising interest in Europe and Asia to growing concerns about currency risk and private equity liquidity. This mid-year check-in offers timely insights into how capital may be repositioning for what's next.

After holding on and repeating the mantra, "stay alive until 2025," six months into the new year, commercial real estate investors find themselves anxious about the way forward. But are there actual signs of distress? Our panel of real estate experts explain.

Questions abound around inflation, interest rates, trade disruption - and beneath it all, fixed-income and derivatives markets adapting at speed. With Treasury auctions stirring unease and a dramatic shift in how global investors are positioning, it's no surprise that bonds and derivatives are back in focus. But the questions are bigger than just "what and where to buy." They're about what tools to use, which risks to hedge and how to think long-term while volatility dominates the conversation.

Luke Flemmer, MSCI's Head of Private Assets, takes listeners on a journey through the evolving landscape of private investments. He highlights the increasing significance of integrating private assets into total portfolios and discusses the historical shifts between public and private markets. The conversation dives into the complexities of liquidity, transparency, and the roles of general and limited partners. Flemmer emphasizes the need for better tools and data to navigate this dynamic environment and make informed investment decisions.

Though many of the headlines follow every twist and turn that equities have taken over the last month, fixed income remains an important part of the story. From drivers of inflation to the relative strength of the U.S. dollar and the rise of private credit as a funding source for corporate America, understanding the shifting dynamics is key as investors plot their next move.

As the year started, the overriding theme was the dominance of the U.S. in the world's financial markets. However, there were already some uncertainties on the horizon. Three months later we have seen quite astounding action on both the policy front and in financial markets. MSCI's roundtable of experts provide their unique perspective on it all.

25 years on from the peak of the dot-com bubble, we discuss parallels between today's AI-driven market boom and the dot-com era with MSCI's Donald Sze, exploring market sentiment, lessons from history and implications for investors navigating current dynamics.

Trade tensions are rising - what does this mean for investors? MSCI's Abhishek Gupta and Thomas Verbraken discuss the latest tariff developments, their potential impact on inflation and interest rates and how they could reshape market dynamics in 2025 and beyond.

Real estate is resetting - but not everywhere and not all at once. Tom Leahy and Ben Chow, the EMEA and APAC heads of real-estate research at MSCI, unpack 2025's key trends, from interest rates to AI-driven demand, and discuss why strategy, timing and resilience could be important drivers going forward.

The first Bitcoin was mined on Jan. 3, 2009. Since then, much of the story has been about volatility, speculation and retail investors. But our guests - including MSCI's Padmakar Kulkarni, Barbara Schlyter of DWS Group and Menai's CIO, Shubin Jha - help us dig deeper into the world of digital-assets investing and examine why institutional investors have started to pay closer attention.