A recent article in Forbes tells the story of EquBot, a San Francisco based ETF advisory firm that uses proprietary software for stock picking. The firm’s chief executive, Chidananda Katua, got the idea during a business school lecture on hedge funds he attended at UC Berkeley four years ago: “Khatua imagined that something powerful might come out of the ability to blend precise financial data with the fuzzier information to be found in annual reports… Read More
A recent article in CFA Institute addresses the question of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) might impact the world of investing. Investment professionals have watched AI emerge with what the article describes as “a mixture of excitement and anxiety,” wondering if the technology will eventually displace humans. The application of both AI and big data, it argues, are likely to bring big change in the industry because they allow analysts to perform more thorough analysis and… Read More
A new technology called continual learning (CL) enables computers to apply accumulated knowledge to make better decisions in the future and is considered “one of the hottest threads of artificial intelligence (AI) research.” This according to an article in CFA Institute. “It may prove to be the single most disruptive technology for investment management,” the article says, adding that CL may be better able to apply objectivity to the investment decision-making process than humans do.… Read More
By Jack Forehand (@practicalquant) — Artificial intelligence and machine learning are going to change investing in many ways. The ability of computers to think, analyze data, and react more and more like human beings has the potential to change everything from how advisors interact with their clients to how investment strategies are created to the fees that are charged for investment advisory services. While very few people dispute the potential for these technologies in investing,… Read More
According to an article in Institutional Investor, the attempts by active managers to outperform benchmarks by running concentrated portfolios is being undermined by their efforts to “manage risks by diversifying into hundreds of stocks.” The article suggests that the use of “ensemble methods,” which rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning, could afford firms the opportunity to use “the highest conviction picks of multiple managers, rather than the single manager employed by most active funds,… Read More
A Barron’s article offers an interview with David W. Harding, who founded Winton Capital in 1997 and has grown the fund company to nearly $27 billion in assets in 8 offices around the world “by deploying high-powered computers to crunch data and pick up potential trading signals and ascertain patters in markets.” In the interview, Harding “eagerly discussed artificial intelligence,” the article says, which he believes is “overhyped.” Here are some highlights: The idea that… Read More
The advent of artificial intelligence may bridge the gap between the subjectivity of discretionary investing and the rigidity of quantitative investing, according to an article in CFA Institute. Recent developments in machine learning have created exciting possibilities to combine the two investment philosophies,” the article reports. “Now quantitative investors can find much more intricate and non-linear relationships among the fundamental factors that drive investment returns.” On the other hand, it adds, AI will allow discretionary… Read More
Yin Luo, head of quantitative research, economics and portfolio strategy at Wolfe Research, is a longtime champion of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to transform investing, according to a recent interview with Barron’s. While Luo but doesn’t think that robots will replace money managers soon, he does believe that machine learning can give investors an edge. Here are some highlights of the interview: Machines investing on their own, says Luo, is a outlandish concept.… Read More
In his recent memo entitled, “Investing Without People” Oaktree co-founder Howard Marks argues that passive and quantitative investing will all help keep markets efficient and reduce costs for investors. This according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. But while active managers have underperformed their benchmarks for years while charging high fees to investors, Marks doesn’t think the strategy is “dead,” adding, “I doubt computers can do what the very best investors do.” The… Read More
By Jack Forehand (@practicalquant) — Howard Marks’ memos provide some of the deepest and most thought provoking insights in the investing world today. They are on par with Warren Buffett’s annual letters as one of the few must reads in investing today. Marks just recently posted a new memo, and the topics he covered were very close to home for me as someone who believes in quantitative and factor-based investment strategies. The memo was titled Investing… Read More
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