Totalreturn blog

Usain Bolt is widely regarded as the fastest and greatest sprinter of all time. The Jamaican athlete is an eight-time Olympic champion and eleven-time world champion, having won both the 100 metres and 200 metres at three consecutive Olympic Games – in 2008, 2012 and 2016 – and held the 100-metre world record ever since. […]

In quantitative investing, algorithms and mathematical models are used to support investment decisions. Strategies make decisions based on predefined rules that have been tested on historical data. One of the greatest challenges, however, is that a strategy may look excellent based on past data yet still disappoint when put to the test in real market […]

According to press reports, the National Bank of Hungary is considering lowering its inflation target from the current 3% to 2.5%, while also contemplating postponing further interest rate cuts. The news prompted a 1% appreciation of the forint, suggesting that investors would welcome such a policy adjustment by the central bank. The move would come […]

Just over a year ago, in July 2025, the BUX index – which tracks the average share price performance of the largest companies listed on the Hungarian stock exchange – crossed the 100,000 point mark for the first time in its history. At the time, the key question was whether Hungary’s leading blue-chip stocks still […]

Balázs Csúr, Junior Analyst at VIG Asset Management, was featured in Pénzcentrum’s latest market round-up, where experts from domestic asset management firms discussed the outlook for artificial intelligence. As the topic continues to electrify equity markets, the key question remains whether we are witnessing a genuine technological revolution or another stock market bubble. Csúr and […]

Here in Hungary – the country where home distillation of pálinka is practically a national tradition – I hardly need to explain the satisfaction of producing a well-crafted spirit. The researchers working in artificial intelligence (AI) must have felt something similar when they developed the technique that has become known as model distillation. The process […]

In the latest episode of the Forbes Money podcast, Balázs Csúr, Junior Analyst at VIG Asset Management, summarized the background of SpaceX’s historic stock market debut. Elon Musk took his company public at nearly a hundred times its previous year’s revenue to fund the capital-intensive data center and semiconductor plant investments of the merged xAI. […]

Before the FIFA World Cup kicked off, Spain and England were widely regarded as the tournament favourites. As the competition has progressed, however, France has emerged as the frontrunner. A major reason for this shift has been the outstanding form of Kylian Mbappé, who is locked in a neck-and-neck race for the Golden Boot with […]

Péter Kadocsa, CEO of VIG Asset Management, evaluated the outlook for the Hungarian investment market and regional growth opportunities in a recent interview with Portfolio.hu. The declining yields on government bonds could bring a new dynamic to the sector, further highlighting the role of regular savings and investment funds in the future. The interview also […]

In the latest episode of Moneyvlog, György Pálfi, Head of Equities at VIG Asset Management, analyzed the current, highly complex macroeconomic environment and the opportunities ahead for the domestic market. The domestic rate-cutting cycle and a potential future Eurozone accession could present a completely new situation for investors. As the previously accustomed high government bond […]

When Nicholas Carlini, a renowned researcher at the artificial intelligence development company Anthropic AI, took the stage on March 25 at the “[un]prompted 2026” cybersecurity conference, he likely suspected that his presentation would generate significant buzz. He explained that Anthropic’s latest large language model, Fable 5, which offers a next-generation cybersecurity solution, outperforms even the […]

Gábor Czachesz, Head of Multi-Asset and Quantitative Investment Strategies at VIG Asset Management, recently gave an interview to Forbes, where he highlighted the most common mistakes made by novice retail investors and shared practical advice on how to start investing. Gábor pointed out that less experienced investors often fall into the trap of chasing past […]

Earlier this January, we published our hypothetical equity index based on FIFA World Cup winning probabilities: the VIG Football World Cup Equity Portfolio Index. Its performance has been particularly strong, theoretically outperforming both the European EURO STOXX 50 Index and the U.S. S&P 500 Index. However, in June, VIG Asset Management did not want to […]

VIG Asset Management has prepared a new equity index for the FIFA World Cup. We created the hypothetical VIG Football World Cup Equity Portfolio Index by combining the stock market indices of the countries considered most likely to win the tournament. How did the process begin? You can find out in our previous articles. We […]