Investors are turning to the commodities markets as a store of wealth. ETF funds own futures contracts, not physical commodities and trading futures comes with a “roll cost.” Investors do not want to take physical delivery, so they roll them from one contract to the next before they expire. Oil price of -$37 showed how extreme the roll cost can get.

Concerns start to grow among analysts over the longer-term inflation outlook. A collapse in real yields on bonds is driving record rallies in assets from gold to technology stocks. The yield on 10-year inflation-linked US government bonds sank below -1%. But ever greater levels of Fed stimulus are required just to prevent risky assets from falling.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya sold a 1 billion euros perpetual note on Tuesday, and designated it as a green bond. CoCo bonds pay more interest than other debt. In exchange investors bear losses, if the bank fails. Transparency on how the funding has supported environmentally friendly causes will be critical, if the bank is to avoid the greenwashing tag.

For the first time in 40 years, we may now have to face up to the corrosive power of inflation. The numbers attached to coronavirus bailouts are clearly astronomical. Attempting to protect portfolios could mean buying not-so-liquid inflation-linked securities and floating-rate bonds; and pursuing value and momentum strategies in equities; and purchasing gold.

When investors get scared, they rush for safe-haven assets like the 10-year Treasury Note. The problem is that an imminent surge in inflation will drive bond yields higher and so push the price of securities down. Rising expectations of inflation will lead bond investors to demand higher yields to tempt them into buying the fixed-income securities.

The German program is buckling under the weight of surging costs and needs an urgent fix. The green surcharge will cost consumers about €26.2 billion this year. At a cost of some €11 billion to the budget, the government will cut the green fee by 2 cents/kWh next year. In other words, power consumers’ burdens will be relieved by taxpayers.

Output from wind farms was up by 40% compared with the first quarter of 2019 as Britain experienced the wettest and windiest February on record. Making sure the grid isn’t overloaded by wind and solar is a challenge for National Grid Plc. The grid operator asked for emergency powers to switch off renewable generators if needed to limit supply.

The UK issued its first bond with a negative yield as investors prepared for the possibility that Britain joins other European countries in having negative interest rates. Comments from UK central bank officials fuelled speculation among investors that the country may set benchmark interest rate below zero to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

From a family office perspective, you don’t want to take on too much risk, but you still want to deploy capital. We have seen a lot of clients saying, “Where should I invest if I want to be in the debt market.” Central banks are keeping economies afloat with cheap-money policies, making assets that used to preserve and grow family fortunes less effective.

Sustainable investing is one of the fastest-growing areas in money management as pension plans and other large investors plow money into the strategy. About $30.7 trillion was held in sustainable or green investments in 2018. 63% of money managers cited a lack of quality and consistent sustainability data as the biggest challenge in making such decisions.

Because green bond issues tend to be smaller, they tend to be less liquid. A green bond is (1) a regular bond plus (2) some green promises. Denmark’s proposed innovation is to sell those parts separately, a conventional government bond and a green certificate, which is a zero-coupon bond with zero redemption at maturity and can be traded separately.

After five years of negative rates imposed by the European Central Bank, German lenders are breaking the last taboo: Charging retail clients for their savings starting with very first euro in the their accounts. They are preparing for a prolonged period of negative rates as Europe’s economy slows. In September, the ECB reduced the deposit rate to minus 0.5%.