Unique insights from Global Trade Data and Machine Learning now available through IHS Markit and SESAMm partnership

IHS Markit, a leading provider of critical information, analytics and solutions, and SESAMm, a specialist in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for investment, announced their partnership to help quantitative investors build trading strategies and extract alpha from Maritime & Trade data.

According to the United Nations Review of Maritime Transport, 80% of global trade by volume and over 70% of global trade by value is transported by sea and handled by ports worldwide.

IHS Markit's decade plus history of PIERS U.S. import and export data, comprising over 22 million documents, lists all vessels loading or unloading in U.S. ports disclosing shipment details to Customs and Border Protection. PIERS data is unique in that it's the only one like it in the space with 100% of U.S. exports with over 10 years of complete history.

"This provides an important proxy view to worldwide trade." said Tim McLaughlin, Executive Director of Trade Analytics from IHS Markit, "This extensive coverage is key for investment strategies providing macro and granular analytics on different sectors and industries, especially with the right tools, focus and expertise."

But analyzing and interpreting large volumes of alternative data can be challenging, even for the most sophisticated investors. In a joint research project SESAMm's data science toolkit SignalReveal® was utilized, applying the latest machine learning techniques to IHS Markit data. "Combining IHS Markit's unique type of alternative data with our expertise and know-how uncovered really strong outcomes," shared Sylvain Forté, CEO of SESAMm. This first collaboration focused on constructing and evaluating a long/short macro trading strategy whilst mitigating the risks of statistical overfitting. "The resultant machine learning model produced a mean annualized return of 19.9% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.6, significantly outperforming the benchmark and traditional quantitative techniques."

To learn more about the data and methodology used in this project, a comprehensive whitepaper was created and made available for download. This is yet another example of how SESAMm's Machine learning platform, combined with IHS Markit's Trade Analytics services, can be applied to create alpha generating models and trading signals.

About SESAMm

SESAMm is an innovative fintech company specializing in Big Data and artificial intelligence for investment. Its team builds analytics and investment signals by analyzing billions of web articles and messages using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. With its NLP platform TextReveal® and its quantitative data science platform SignalReveal®, SESAMm addresses the entire value chain of alpha research. With offices in France, New York, London and Tokyo, SESAMm works with major hedge funds, banks, and asset management clients around the world for both fundamental and quantitative use cases.

Contact for more information: info@sesamm.com

About IHS Markit

IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 business and government customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth.

Contact for more information: press@ihsmarkit.com