At Candriam, we are both more active and more demanding in our engagement activities, an attitude shared by several other investors, mostly European.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been yet another wake-up call for our need for energy independence. While Europe's reliance on Russian gas was evident, Russia is also one of the largest oil producers, exporting half of its production to Europe before February 2022.

Publicly-traded companises have begun to incorporate ESG performance metrics into their executives’ compensation packages as part of efforts to increase transparency on their accountability vis-à-vis shareholders.

The Metaverse. The substitution of reality with the imagined – transporting the participant literally into a whole new world – will become possible for all kinds of products and services.

Investors who fail to consider biodiversity in their portfolios increase the global problem, in turn reducing the growth potential and increasing the risk to their own investments. These two connected systems chase each other in a downward spiral.

And we would rather not have to go through this – which would mean we won the battle and cancer is curable.

We are excited to share that our CEO, Naïm Abou-Jaoudé, has been named CEO of New York Life Investment Management (NYLIM). Vincent Hamelink, CIO, will succeed him as CEO of Candriam. Renato Guerriero, current Chief Sales and Distribution Officer, has also been appointed as Deputy CEO in charge of Global Development and Distribution. All effective May 1, 2023.

Net Zero is a make-or-break moment for the global economy and investors can help emerging markets take full part in the energy transition.

The late, great Stephen Sondheim was, perhaps, the greatest figure in 20th century musical theatre. He once said the ‘art is, in itself, an attempt to make order out of chaos’. The greatest operatic composers lived in dramatic times. Puccini composed during the Italian wars of reunification.

Schubert began his Eighth symphony in 1822. His Unfinished Symphony is also known as the first Romantic symphony, heralding a new musical type. Used in present-day movies, it is still fresh 200 years later. Engagement is the ongoing manifestation of sustainable investing. May it continue as long.

The impacts of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have interrupted the positive performance trajectory of a diversified allocation, penalising both equity and bond markets. While markets are likely to remain highly dependent, in the short term, on changes in economic data (inflation and growth), we believe that investors can once again rely on attractive yields for a longer investment horizon with greater peace of mind.

In the past, small caps have tended to rebound strongly after inflation peaks. Small caps’ intrinsic qualities – agility, strong pricing power –, supplemented by careful selection by an experienced team, may allow them to stand out from the crowd once again in the near future.