The danger of round numbers

Blended finance is a strategy that’s gaining momentum and visibility. In the past decade, it has mobilised more than $200bn (€188bn) in capital toward sustainable development in developing countries. Dhun Davar, head of social finance at the UBS Optimus Foundation, joins us to explain how this helps funding reach high-impact social and environmental projects that might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream markets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the UBS Wealth Management CIO’s outlook for the second quarter of 2024? Our panellists explain why buoyant equity markets, a soft landing in the US, continued central-bank rate-cutting and the ongoing adoption of artificial intelligence have prompted their focus on technology, durable income and risk management. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Global Investment Returns Yearbook is the authoritative guide to historical long-run returns, most recently published by UBS with the London Business School, and covering all the main asset categories in 35 markets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UBS celebrated the 10th year of its proud partnership with Art Basel Hong Kong with a dynamic programme focused on artist responses to city life. We meet Chankalun, an artist who pays homage to the city’s heritage of neon sign-making, and whose works were showcased at the fair in the UBS Art Studio and inaugural UBS One spaces. Plus: Carola Wiese, Senior Art Advisor in the Family Advisory, Art & Collecting division of UBS, and Iwan K Lukminto, collector and founder of Tumurun Museum in Surakarta, Indonesia, join the show to share reflections, highlights and recommendations from this year’s edition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reflections from the UBS Global Consumer & Retail Conference that took place last week in New York. We invite three UBS experts, including US Hardline/Broadline and Food Retail Analyst Michael Lasser, to share their insights into the key narratives that emerged both from the main sessions and on the margins.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The eighth annual Art Basel & UBS Global Art Market Report, authored by renowned cultural economist Clare McAndrew, once again provides a comprehensive, macroeconomic analysis of the state of the global art market in the preceding 12 months. We discuss the findings with McAndrew, Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz and UBS Global Wealth Management chief economist Paul Donovan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We mark International Women’s Day by taking a deeper dive into a report from the Chief Investment Office (CIO) of UBS Global Wealth Management, which explores how women can realise their lifetime investment goals. With Marianna Mamou, head of advice beyond investing in the UBS CIO.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Takeaways from the 2024 edition, which took place in Key Biscayne, Florida, last week, featuring key industry figures discussing the state of the sector, the dynamics of the year so far and the direction of travel. We get a summary of the event from Brennan Hawken, who covers capital markets in the equity research department at UBS, and Erika Najarian, who heads large cap bank research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We kick off our coverage of the UBS Global Wealth Management Chief Investment Office ‘ElectionWatch’ series. These reports take the US investment temperature in the build-up to November’s presidential election. The edition published earlier this month and authored by our guest, Tom McLoughlin, managing director and head of fixed income and municipal securities for UBS, is titled, ‘Implications of a potential rematch’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the first time last week, having risen almost 5.5 per cent this year. This follows a more than 24 per cent rally for the benchmark US index in 2023 and means that it has doubled since the pandemic-induced low of March 2020. Kiran Ganesh of UBS explains what this means for investors and discusses the potential effect of the ongoing US general-election campaign.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.