Mercer’s acquisition of US-based Hammond Associates marks the continued trend of a new consulting environment that raises the question of whether boutique firms can survive. Amanda White spoke to Mercer’s US investment consulting leader, Jeff Schutes, about why clients’ demand for deeper resources and knowledge is driving the consolidation, and why large firms are rejecting the risks of the public pension domain. 
US instos swing back to equities
The Conference Board’s 2010 Institutional Investment Report: Trends in Asset Allocation and Portfolio Composition measures the asset growth and portfolio composition of institutional investors operating in the US.
Blue-eared pigs challenge China’s leaders
Economists hate price and wages controls. They distort the natural forces of markets and usually result in pent-up demand and/or supply which will be unleashed at a later stage as well as a range of unexpected distortions. Investors, too, should hate them.
Stock exchange merger and liquidity
This paper by Columbia University’s Ulf Nielsson, empricially investigates the effects of stock exchange consolidation, specifically measuring how it affects stock liquidity and how the effect varies with firm type.
Russell Axioma launches factor-based indexes
Institutional investors’ increasing use of factor-based models to understand their portfolio risk exposures is the conduit for Russell Investments’ collaboration with Axioma to launch a series of factor-based indexes to rival MSCI/Barra, according to Rolf Agather, managing director of research and innovation at Russell. 
Diversification is not enough for managing risk
Diversification alone is not enough to manage downside risk, rather academic research in dynamic portfolio theory suggests the three complementary techniques of diversification, hedging, and insurance can be used together to design customised investment solutions, that ultimately separate assets into performance seeking portfolios and liability hedging portfolios, according to EDHEC’s Felix Goltz and Stoyan Stoyanov. 
