Word: hsbc
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...Amro launched a Climate Change and Environment Index in March, tracking stocks in businesses like emissions reduction and water filtration. In April, UBS introduced a global-warming futures index based on the weather in 15 U.S. cities. Merrill Lynch launched an energy-efficiency index in July. And in September HSBC unveiled what it claims is the largest climate-change index to date, tracking the share prices of some 300 companies...
Until recently, this was a specialized niche. But now it "has gone from being the exclusive domain of some clean-tech funds to being a demand of major investors," says Nick Robins, head of the HSBC Climate Change Centre of Excellence. Indeed, buyers today have their pick of hedge funds that focus on rapid-fire trading to corporate pension funds that are required to put some portion of their money in socially responsible investments. Meanwhile, a slew of new mutual funds is selling individual investors on the heady growth prospects of companies in areas like cleaner energy or environmentally friendly...
...numbered is, in fact, increasingly popular. In September, Alan Greenspan, former chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve, said it's "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the dollar as [the] reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency." If that ever happens, says HSBC chief economist Stephen King, "the dollar goes into free fall." ABN Amro's de Jong agrees that this would trigger a crisis, but doesn't think it will happen anytime soon: "Ultimately, the U.S. will lose its unique reserve-currency status, but it may take 20, 30 years." At the moment...
...challenge the big boys. Most of all, major Asian airlines have much lower costs than their U.S. and European counterparts, allowing them to compete more easily. In Europe, for example, no-frills airlines have costs that are 60% lower than those of the major airlines. HSBC Securities estimates that in Asia the gap can be held...
...Critics say APEC's successes are vague and its influence fading. Former Australian P.M. Paul Keating, who helped convene the first leaders' summit in 1993, has slammed APEC as "a talk shop of debatable output." The region has other forums, notably the 16-member East Asian Summit. But, says HSBC's Edwards, only APEC "includes both China and the U.S. and all the economies that have most to lose if their relationship broke down. There are all sorts of points of tension between the two that can be modulated by the diplomacy of the others." With many members allied with...