Looking back at 2018, it was a year when European corporate earnings continued to grow, while market volatility was surprisingly high. The volatility was a result of both political noise and the fear of a slowdown in global growth.

To navigate such unstable conditions, there is a limited range of “all weather” strategies. Merger Arbitrage and Fixed Income Arbitrage (including L/S Credit) have demonstrated their ability to navigate such a difficult year like in 2018, when most asset classes delivered negative returns...

According to Eric Labbé, Thematic equity manager at CPR AM, for 2019, the high dividend strategy is therefore an advantageous alternative in the framework of defensive equity management in the context of a challenging market.

We are past the peak of the U.S. earnings reports. In the past, any unusually high individual stock volatility after an earnings announcement was a pattern that only appeared at macro inflection points.