It has been an extraordinary past month in global financial markets, and for Exante Data as well. We are writing today with an update, and with concern, as we are expecting a very significant escalation in reported COVID cases in the US in the period ahead, as testing commences on a broader scale.

 

First, on behalf of the entire Exante team, I would like to thank our clients. We have received an enormous amount of feedback across our global client base. We have incorporated your thinking and your insights in setting our analytical priorities. We have also been inspired and humbled by all the kind words. We have taken the additional step of asking some of you for formal testimonials. Thank you for these as well. We have posted these on our website today, on a strictly anonymized basis.

 

Second, some words on our journey. We recognized COVID as a market driver as early as Jan 21, and conveyed those impressions in real-time. As our concerns intensified, we instituted our Daily coronavirus coverage on Jan 28. We augmented our Daily with open-source statistics of China’s return to work from Feb 10 (now on @exantedata as a free service). Our response has been agile and comprehensive, geared toward staying ahead of the analytical curve, so as to provide a ‘full stack’ of deliverables to each of you. 

 

Everyone at Exante has been focused on this priority. It has been a huge team effort. Grant Wilson in Sydney deserves a special credit for insisting VERY early on the topic’s immense global significance and for spearheading our Daily initiative. I am very proud of the entire team’s efforts, including also the contributions of Alex Etra, Web Begole, Fabio Palacio, and Patrick Mcbrearty in New York.

 

I believe that this period has been a strong validation of Exante’s independent ethos and data-driven approach. We recognized early the importance of deferring key analytics to the epidemiological community, whose work we knew from the SARS episode. We have been careful to ‘stay in our lane’ in that respect. We have now come full circle, with top research epidemiologists coming to us, to lever our real-time data in their analysis!

 

Even as COVID has broadened, we have found ways to stay ahead of developments, using our data and software development skills. This has informed our macro thematic notes, and our underlying platform, Global Flow Analytics, as well. In a large institutional setting the steps we took, and will continue to take, are simply not feasible. 

 

Through February we are pleased to convey that Exante has experienced non-linear growth, adding subscribers across the world, and across many sectors as well. To those of you who are new, thank you for the engagement and the opportunity.

 

A final note. As extraordinary as this period has been at Exante, we are all deeply mindful that beneath the data there are real people. We expect the human aspect to be felt more keenly globally over the next couple of weeks and we have elevated concerns about the US in this context. 

 

Please accept our best wishes at this time, and our sincere thanks as we help to navigate what lies ahead. And please keep the questions coming; we are here to help.