Given the unpredictability of investment markets and corporate fundamentals, we tend to pay minor heed to generally unreliable guesswork about the future, instead emphasizing the facts of market history. Analyst estimates for corporate earnings provide a fine example of a dataset that one otherwise might think would be usable, driven as it is by crowd-sourced […]
Podcast: Play in new window
One correctly could suggest the world entered a darker phase over the past week. One also correctly could observe that the skies have proceeded to darken since the dawn of the post-Soviet era. The breadth of those two observations reflects a proper range of thinking regarding geopolitical risk and investment management. Though the thrum of […]
It’s rare that market action provides such clarity of purpose to our recommendations that investors maintain a long-term orientation with investment plans, even as they regularly revisit their tolerance for market risk. After Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in their early morning hours today, international markets opened to significant losses. Domestic stocks opened down […]
The world has been left bereft of “safe” yield for a decade. And over that time, savers have been required to adjust their perspectives regarding what’s possible in terms of income generation from a portfolio. That thinking has led many to pursue yield from dividend stocks, rather than bonds, as a means to bolster income. […]
Podcast: Play in new window
This latest update to our investment models includes the following themes: Across all models we have sought to lower the duration “cap” incorporated into our fixed income allocations while maintaining the flexibility to access additional yield through exposure to credit Within the equity component of our models, as a consequence of more recent differentials in […]
All but ignoring the global pandemic, for the third year in a row global stocks saw a double-digit gain, once again powered by U.S. stocks. After two years of high single-digit gains, though, the domestic investment-grade bond market turned in a loss. After a close first half, domestic equities powered away from their global peers. […]
While it’s true that we fancy smaller, less-expensive and more profitable companies, those preferences have not been shared among the bulk of investors over the past decade. With relative performance as testament to that fact, investors have been rather more interested in pulling forward the longer-term potential of growthier names. But history generally has been […]
Podcast: Play in new window
Fresh variation in the COVID-19 virus spooked investors over the Thanksgiving holiday. Fears of the virus rather quickly gave ways to fears of missing out on further market gains, then turned about again. The u-turns brought these tenets to mind: Even if not presently expressed, investment risk is always present. That is, if for no […]
Podcast: Play in new window
When something new comes along in Finance, it can be fun to watch market participants line up to present themselves as experts, quick to provide “insight” into what the future will hold. Over the past few weeks, voluminous ink has been spilt over the confluence of rising inflation and nascent digital currencies, both of which […]
Podcast: Play in new window
Equity returns over the past year still pretty stellar, even without the initial rebound from the bottom of the COVID-19 crisis last March. Bonds have had a more sorrowful time of it, though, as the confidence that drove the rebound in stocks also provided a boost to interest rates. Developed-market stocks—both domestic and abroad—traded in […]
