Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman to headline Quandl Data Conference

Quandl

Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman will headline this year’s Quandl Data Conference. In a candid conversation, she will share her thoughts on analytics, market technology, and how data-driven investing is the future of active management. Read More

JPMorgan economists see promise and pitfalls in alt data

Bloomberg (subscription)

Data from new technologies can offer visibility into activity that traditional measures miss, and with a shorter lag. And the benefits may be clearest in emerging economies where traditional data is weak, a report from JPMorgan economists says. Read More

Blackrock, AQR, State Street to cut jobs

Bloomberg (subscription)

Asset managers and banks are under pressure as volatility roils global markets; the $3 trillion hedge fund market has been hit hard as performance sank and funds closed last year. One recruiter thinks more shakeout lays ahead. Read More

Data firms buck cryptocurrency bear market

New Money Review

While cryptocurrency exchanges, trading firms and investment funds lay off staff in droves, one sector is bucking the last year’s savage bear market: data provision and analytics for cryptocurrency markets. Read More

Why data privacy is hot and machine learning is not

The Next Web

The current zeitgeist indicates that data privacy may underpin innovation and technological advancement in 2019. The author argues that this could dampen innovation in data-hungry machine learning operations. Read More

Alternative data in action: web-scraping

Greenwich Associates

Greenwich Associates research shows that 50% of institutional investors plan to increase their usage of alternative data in the coming year. Among the various types of alternative data available, web-scraped data is the most popular. Read More

Alternative data gets a number-crunch

The Asset

As competitive pressures fuel a rapid increase in the use of alternative data, such as location data, many end users are calling for greater transparency from data providers. Read More

Alt-data firm’s 2018 stock picks beat the market

Barron’s (subscription)

To demonstrate the predictive power of its trend-spotting tool, fintech startup Sentieo publishes a list of stock recommendations each year. In 2018, its 16 recommended stocks rose 25.4% on average, handily beating the S&P 500’s 6.2% decline. Read More

The exaggerated promise of so-called unbiased data mining

Wired

In a review of 2018 hedge fund performance, CNBC found that investors chose quant funds and larger, established names will be pleasantly surprised in what was otherwise a challenging year in a variety of markets. Read More