Multi-asset investment research

Asset Class Research

Understand what drives returns, risk and value across financial markets.

Explore original research on equities, ETFs, bonds, commodities, currencies, derivatives and alternative investments. Understand how each asset works, what determines its returns and how different exposures behave under changing market conditions. Figures appear only when a document was read, or when an example is labelled as a worksheet.

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Written by WiT Markets EditorialReview Editorially reviewedLast reviewed

The lead note uses the September 2026 BIS review. The cards beside it are mechanism notes with worksheet arithmetic where a number appears.

Diagram for Private credit and the risks hidden in an illiquid valuation

AlternativesMacro analysis

Private credit and the risks hidden in an illiquid valuation

Private credit is a loan that does not trade like a government bond. The September 2026 BIS Quarterly Review says it helped finance the shift toward the digital economy by lending against cash flows and intangible assets. A valuation that barely moves is not the same fact as a market price.

WiT Markets Editorial2 min read

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Asset classes

Counts are published notes carrying that tag, including earlier notes that still live at their own addresses.

  • Equities

    A residual claim on a business.

    Return. Earnings, dividends and the price paid for them.

    Risk. The business, dilution and a multiple that compresses the filing.

    6 published notes

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  • ETFs and funds

    A portfolio with a fee and a domicile.

    Return. The holdings’ return, minus costs and tracking effects.

    Risk. The wrong index, a tax drag, or a price away from net asset value.

    7 published notes

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  • Fixed income

    A schedule of coupons and principal, plus a credit.

    Return. Income and the price change when yields or spreads move.

    Risk. Duration, default and a yield definition that is not the one you meant.

    6 published notes

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  • Commodities

    A good, a futures curve, or a producer’s equity.

    Return. Spot, the roll and, for a miner, the spread over costs.

    Risk. Treating gold, oil and copper, or a fund and a mine, as the same holding.

    4 published notes

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  • Currencies

    An exchange rate, or the translation of a foreign asset.

    Return. The rate and any interest differential.

    Risk. Confusing a hedged share class with a currency trade.

    1 published note

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  • Futures

    A dated contract and collateral.

    Return. The contract price, the roll and the collateral return.

    Risk. Margin is not a cap on loss. Expiry ends that contract.

    1 published note

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  • Options

    A right or an obligation at a strike.

    Return. The payoff after the premium. Before expiry, time and volatility.

    Risk. Reading an expiry diagram as the value of the option today.

    1 published note

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  • Digital assets

    A token, an exchange balance, or a listed wrapper.

    Return. The token’s result, minus fees and custody frictions.

    Risk. Keys, a custodian, or a share price that leaves the tokens.

    1 published note

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  • Alternative and private assets

    A contract that may not have a daily price.

    Return. The contractual cash flows, if they are paid.

    Risk. A smooth valuation, a gate on redemptions, and collateral that is hard to sell.

    2 published notes

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Compare asset classes

Instrument-specific descriptions. There is no forecast and no universal risk score. A bill and a long bond do not share a cell.

Qualitative comparison. Leverage means leverage that is part of the instrument or a financed position, not a recommendation to use it.
ExposureWhat is ownedReturn driversInterest ratesCreditLiquidityCurrencyLeverageStructural point
Listed equityResidual claim on a companyEarnings, dividends, valuationThrough the discount rateThe firm’s own survivalThe share’s marketIf the listing or the business is foreignIf the holder borrowsDilution and a single business
Broad equity fundShares in a fund that holds equitiesBasket return minus costsThrough the holdings’ valuationsLittle, unless the fund uses a swapFund shares and the basketUnhedged foreign holdingsOnly if the fund is leveragedIndex concentration and tracking
Treasury billShort government obligationYield to a near maturitySmall, because cash is nearThe state, usually limitedThe bill marketIf the bill is in another currencyNo, if fully paidReinvestment and inflation
Long government bondLong government cash flowsCoupon and yield movesHigh durationThe stateDepends on the issueIf foreign currencyIf financedA yield rise can exceed a year of coupon
Corporate floaterCompany debt with a resetting couponReset income and the spreadLow to the reference rateThe companyOften thinner than billsIf foreign currencyNo, if fully paidSpread widening and default
Commodity futures fundShares in a rolling futures bookFutures, roll, collateralIndirectThe fund structure, not the metal’s issuerContracts and fund sharesQuote currency versus the holderMargin inside the bookCurve shape and roll cost
Listed optionA contract with a strike and an expiryPayoff after premiumVia the underlying and ratesThe clearing house and the writerThe listed seriesIf the underlying is foreignPremium is smaller than the assetExpiry, volatility and assignment

What are you actually exposed to?

Choose a holding. The panel is a definition, not a score.

Economic exposure
A basket following an index’s rules, not ‘the economy’.
Return mechanism
The basket’s total return, minus fees and tracking effects.
Costs
Ongoing charge, spread, and sometimes withholding tax.
Risks
Market risk plus concentration inside the index.
Liquidity
The fund’s shares and the liquidity of the basket.
Leverage
Not from the fund itself unless the documents say it is leveraged.

How a risk travels

Mechanisms. No historical price series is drawn, because none was loaded for this page.

  • Interest rates and bond prices

    A higher required yield discounts the same coupons more heavily, so the price falls. The further the cash flows, the larger that effect. A floating coupon resets, which is a different mechanism.

  • Credit spreads

    If lenders demand more spread while government yields are unchanged, corporate prices can fall on their own. A government rally and a credit decline can happen on the same day.

  • Equity valuation

    The same expected cash flows are worth less at a higher discount rate, and worth less per share if the company issues shares. Earnings that are not cash do not survive that arithmetic unchanged.

  • Futures rolls

    Keeping a position past expiry means leaving one contract and entering a later one. If the later contract is priced higher, the roll can cost. Spot can be unchanged while the fund is not.

  • Currency translation

    An asset priced in euros changes in dollar accounts when the exchange rate changes, even if the euro price does not. A hedged share class tries to offset that translation. It does not repair the asset.

  • Options before expiry

    At expiry a call is worth the asset price above the strike, or zero. Before expiry the premium also pays for time and volatility. The payoff diagram is the last line, not the holding today.

Research series

A series is shown only when at least one published note carries its tag.

Editorial queue

These pieces were not published. The source page did not yield a figure that could be checked.

  • Active versus passive in the 2026 SPIVA scorecards

    The S&P Dow Jones SPIVA pages did not load on 19 October 2026, so no underperformance percentage, region or fund category result is stated.

  • Current weights inside capitalisation-weighted indices

    No index factsheet was opened for a holdings weight. The existing concentration note explains the mechanism and does not invent a top-ten share.

  • ICI fact-book expense ratios and fund flows

    The ICI statistics page points to the Fact Book and asks for permission before reproduction. It did not itself print an expense ratio or a flow, so none is copied here.

Research archive

Notes on this hub, including earlier articles that keep their own addresses. Dates are publication dates of the notes.

Existing routes. A calculator uses numbers you type.

Sources and editorial method

Equities and funds

Fundamental analysis reads the business: revenue, earnings quality, cash flow, the balance sheet, dilution and the dividend policy. Valuation multiples compress that reading and can hide it. Sector labels help only when the companies share an economics. An exchange-traded fund or other fund adds a layer: the index rules, the fee, securities lending, and the gap between the fund and the index. The equity note on multiples and the note on index concentration are the published pieces. Company pages are not invented to fill a coverage list.

Bonds, commodities and currencies

Fixed income is a claim on coupons and principal, with interest-rate risk and credit risk that should be named separately. Commodities research starts from supply, demand, inventories and storage, then from the futures curve. Contango and backwardation are shapes of that curve. Weather and energy demand show up as inventory stories. Currencies research has to keep the Bank for International Settlements survey apart from a retail contract. The published foreign-exchange note does that. This hub does not restate it as if a new survey had been released.

Futures, options and wrapped exposures

A future has a multiplier, an expiry and a margin that the exchange or the broker can change. Rollover is a new contract, not a magic continuation of the old price. An option has a strike, a premium and a payoff that is only fully known at expiry. Greeks are sensitivities of a model price. They are not facts about the next trade. Assignment can turn an option position into a share or futures position overnight. Digital assets add custody: an exchange balance, a self-hosted wallet and a listed product fail in different ways. The markets pages carry the instrument primers and the provider directories. Use those for access. Use these notes for the analysis.

MethodologyEditorial policyCommercial disclosureCorrections

Sources and review

Written by: WiT Markets Editorial. Writes and structures WiT Markets pages. Separates a sourced fact from a cell that is Not confirmed.

Review: Editorially reviewed. This is not a qualified specialist review and it is not a legal sign-off.

Last reviewed: . Next review due . The date is an editorial pass. It is not a live check of every third-party fee.

Regulatory and official sources

Other sources

Methodology. Editorial policy. Corrections. Report an error.

Asset class research: equities, ETFs, bonds and more | WiT Markets