July 31, 2019 US Corporate Cash Is Down—Will Stocks Follow? by Sharat Kotikalpudi, Caglasu Altunkopru The recent decline in US corporate cash hasn’t raised a lot of eyebrows, but it has caused one of our equity-quality indicators to flash a warning. Since equity quality is one of the signals with a strong track record of predicting market sell-offs, should investors be worried? Capital Markets Outlook, Equities, Multi-Asset Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
July 08, 2019 Custom or Packaged? The Target-Date Choice Revisited by Jennifer DeLong, Andrew Stumacher Many plan sponsors wrestle with the decision of choosing—or changing—a target-date solution. Is a packaged product appropriate for plan participants, or are there advantages to using a custom solution? Or is there perhaps another choice? Multi-Asset, Target-Date Solutions Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
April 23, 2019 Misreading the Signs: Is Yield-Curve Inversion a False Alarm? by Sharat Kotikalpudi The US yield curve dipped into inverted territory recently. But that’s not necessarily a bad omen for equities. There are several important warning signals—and lately the yield curve’s slope is the only one flashing red. Multi-Asset, Rising Rates Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
January 14, 2019 It’s Different This Time: Risk Is Up and Here to Stay by Daniel J. Loewy, Caglasu Altunkopru, Martin Atkin Investors are likely to remember 2018 as the end of the era of easy money, low volatility and steady margin expansion. Investing will be more challenging in 2019—and diversification will be more important than ever. Asset Allocation, Multi-Asset, Volatility Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
January 03, 2019 Don’t Rely on Cheap Oil to Power Equity Markets by Sharat Kotikalpudi It’s taken for granted in financial circles that lower oil prices are a boon for stocks, as they fuel an economy-boosting cycle in which money saved at the pump ultimately flows to the market. But oil prices that are too low could be too much of a good thing. Multi-Asset, Volatility Likes 1 SHARE Bookmarks
August 30, 2018 How Contagious Is Turkey? by Morgan Harting, Christian DiClementi The Turkish lira has dropped 38% as of August 28, putting pressure on inflation as well as the country’s debt-heavy corporations and banks. Investor jitters have spread over the past week to some other emerging markets and European banks with Turkish exposure, but we don’t expect contagion to expand much further from here. Currency, Emerging Markets, Fixed Income, Multi-Asset, Volatility Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
June 22, 2018 Four Reasons Why It’s Time to Get Real About Inflation by Vinod Chathlani, Brian Resnick, Karen Watkin With the global economy moving into its late-cycle stages, we think it’s a good time to bolster portfolio inflation protection by embracing several recently unloved investments—including natural resources and commodities. Asset Allocation, Inflation, Multi-Asset Likes 1 SHARE Bookmarks
May 21, 2018 Income…but at What Cost? by Morgan Harting, Karen Watkin There are a lot of suggestions these days about where to get extra income, but less discussion about the cost attached to it. A diversified multi-asset approach can help—and provide additional growth potential. But how it’s designed matters. Multi-Asset Likes 1 SHARE Bookmarks
February 28, 2018 With Target-Date Funds, History Does Repeat by Jennifer DeLong Target-date funds played a big part in helping defined contribution (DC) plan participants stay invested through February’s market turmoil. And history does repeat: in the severe 2008–09 financial crisis, these funds kept many participants positioned to take part in a lengthy bull market. Business Owners, Multi-Asset, Target-Date Solutions Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
February 28, 2018 With Target-Date Funds, History Does Repeat by Jennifer DeLong Target-date funds played a big part in helping defined contribution (DC) plan participants stay invested through February’s market turmoil. And history does repeat: in the severe 2008–09 financial crisis, these funds kept many participants positioned to take part in a lengthy bull market. Multi-Asset, Target-Date Solutions Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
January 31, 2018 Downside Protection—at What Cost? Investors worried about an equity correction might see low volatility as a sign that buying options is a cheap way to protect a multi-asset portfolio. But the cost today is higher than it seems. Multi-Asset, Volatility Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
January 15, 2018 Encouraging Backdrop for Investors as 2018 Gets Under Way by Daniel J. Loewy, Martin Atkin, Karen Watkin As the new year begins to unfold, the environment for risk assets is still benign: the global economy is strong, monetary policy is accommodative, and volatility is low and steady. At this point, we don’t see excesses developing that could change that. Asset Allocation, Multi-Asset Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks
December 05, 2017 What’s the EM Story? It’s All About Growth by Morgan Harting Emerging markets did quite well in 2017, despite early concerns of trade wars, Trump and China. That’s because growth has picked up and should continue into 2018. We also think EM equity returns will be broader based—well beyond the handful of companies that dominated in 2017. Emerging Markets, Multi-Asset Likes 0 SHARE Bookmarks