Insights

20 Jan 2021 2020 and Its Aftermath: Ballast Your Portfolio to Thrive in a Rapidly Changing World

Posted at 10:00h in Whitepapers

How quickly the world can change! 2020 serves as a reminder of the dramatic market swings that are possible over short calendar year periods. The year began with the markets collapsing as the scale of the global COVID-19 pandemic took shape. This was followed by massive global economic stimulus and eventual vaccine optimism, producing a sizeable market rally by year's end. We examine the underlying macroeconomics at play during the year and the likely implications for the markets going forward. Among them, we note that potential volatility due to continued global capital flows may have implications for investors. We close with a discussion...

18 Nov 2020 Does the DOL have it wrong? How Pensions Can Satisfy Their Fiduciary Duty And Still Invest Responsibly

Posted at 16:25h in Blogs

Can you be a responsible investor and still live up to your duties as a fiduciary? Recent regulatory developments from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) would lead one to believe investors have to make a choice and if that choice involves non-pecuniary vehicles then such investments would be prohibited. The recent guidance gives financial risk and returns primacy over any other factors, such as ESG investing, and went so far as to recommend barring ESG considerations from investment decisions by pension funds. I believe the DOL has this wrong. Responsible investing strategies don’t need to come at a cost. We...

01 May 2020 Solving the ESG Dilemma: How to Advance One’s Values While Also Improving Performance

Posted at 08:36h in Whitepapers

Using our ESG universe, we observe that the majority of funds have underperformed the wider market over the last decade....

22 Apr 2020 Systematic Macro: What, How and Why Should I Care?

Posted at 09:25h in Whitepapers

Global Macro practitioners can be divided into two camps: discretionary and systematic. Discretionary practitioners develop a top-down macroeconomic view and engage in concentrated positions based on discretionary assessments of fundamental data such as GDP, exchange rates, inflation, debt levels, and supply-demand dynamics....

03 Mar 2017 Tail Risk: About 5x Worse Than You May Think

Posted at 08:16h in Whitepapers

After enduring the (40%) global equity market collapse of 2008, investors large and small are eager to reexamine the perils posed by equity market “tail risk” events....

03 Mar 2017 Diversification: Often Discussed, but Frequently Misunderstood

Posted at 08:14h in Whitepapers

Diversification remains the cornerstone of modern portfolio theory. Yet, during the financial crisis many “diversifying” investments readily followed the direction of the equity markets as they collapsed in 2008 and 2009....

03 Mar 2017 Finding Diversification: The Geometry of Time and Correlation

Posted at 08:12h in Whitepapers

When someone says ‘time is on their side,’ they’re saying time is working in their favor, and almost always from a long-term perspective....

03 Mar 2017 Diversification Revisited: What Changed During this Recovery?

Posted at 08:11h in Whitepapers

The financial recovery since early 2009 has been a most welcome reprieve from the lowest depths of the Global Financial Collapse (GFC)....

03 Mar 2017 Going Up: Where to Find Returns if Interest Rates Rise

Posted at 08:11h in Whitepapers

With corporate bond and U.S. Treasury rates near 100-year lows after a 30-year steady decline, investors everywhere are pondering the consequences if interest rates begin to rise....

03 Mar 2017 When Bonds Fall: How Risky Are Bonds if Interest Rates Rise?

Posted at 08:09h in Whitepapers

Thirty-one years ago the yield on corporate Aaa bonds reached its 100-year peak of 15.5%. That date was in September, 1981, and rates for corporate bonds and U.S. Treasuries have fallen ever since, with both rates resting near 100-year lows today....