It is difficult to survive in the land of thematic funds. During the 15 years through Dec. 31, 2021, more than 80% of thematic funds worldwide closed their doors. Most thematic funds prove to be one-hit wonders or don’t live long enough to see their investment theses pan out. Timing is a crucial element for thematic funds, and merely staying open long enough to have their time in the limelight can be critical to their long-run viability.
The MSCI ACWI US Small Cap Growth Index declined over 10%, while its value counterpart was only down about 2.5%, highlighting the impact of increasing economic uncertainty from higher inflation and the war in Ukraine. Sector and geographic allocations are supplemental information
Firms must adapt to secular and cyclical headwinds.
Recessions come in many different varieties, and if a recession does occur, we think it will be relatively short and mild. In order to tame high inflation in this scenario, the Fed would be forced to raise interest rates
Waves in commodity prices, consumer inflation, equity and bond yields, stock market booms and busts, and innovation disruptions appear to occur even against a background of high and steady technological
Two issues that pop out most frequently are: (1) share of inflation that can be attributed to global factors (=whether central banks can address price pressures without slowing the economy too much); and (2) coordination between monetary and fiscal policies (=growth/inflation
While markets have been falling across the board in 2022, low-volatility indexes and funds have generally held up better than their counterparts.
However, I personally think the outlook for emerging market debt is still uncertain and is highly dependent on future inflation and on what the Fed is likely to do about it. The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets
They are off to their worst start since the Great Depression.
Should You Diversify by Style? With stock styles often showing divergent performance, investors don’t necessarily need to travel overseas to add diversification to their portfolios.
Knocking off these investment jobs will keep you focused on the big picture.
Flight to safety pushes defensive sectors too high while leaving growth stocks attractively priced.
While the factors underlying the bond market rout aren’t unusual, it is the speed and extent of the losses and the accompanying jump in yields that are unique to the circumstances of the post-pandemic economic
But here’s something you may not know: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which issues the monthly consumer price index (CPI), has changed its methodology for measuring inflation more than twice over the
