Is Bitcoin a Better Disaster Hedge Than Gold?

No, we don’t think so. While bitcoin and gold share some qualities, these two assets are different and should not be viewed as interchangeable in investment portfolios. Bitcoin is much more volatile than gold and has recently been trading more like a pro-risk asset, suffering significant drawdowns during periods of market turmoil. Bitcoin is often […]

February 2022

Does the New German Government Herald a Return to Fiscal Austerity for Europe?

No. While there is no danger of the fiscal floodgates opening in Europe, the 'traffic-light' coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) looks set to oversee some loosening of the fiscal purse strings in Germany.

December 2021

Outlook 2022: Flying at a Lower Altitude

As we peer over the horizon, we anticipate growth will return to a lower altitude. Read more in our compilation of investment views for 2022.

December 2021

Global Equity Performance Exceeds That of High-Quality Bonds

Global equities have returned more to investors than high-quality global bonds in nearly three quarters of the last 30 years. The margin of outperformance during those years has been considerable, averaging 12.5 percentage points. That high historical success rate, along with our view that healthy economic activity will support both positive earnings growth and risk appetite, leads us to expect that equities will yet again outperform high-quality bonds.

December 2021

China A-Shares Outperform Global Equities

China’s equity markets have lagged global equities sharply thus far in 2021 in the face of a regulatory crackdown. We expect Chinese equities, particularly China onshore A-shares, to outperform global equities in 2022.

December 2021

Don’t Expect EM ex China Performance to Impress

Emerging markets ex China equities have underperformed their DM peers this year due, in part, to greater economic and political challenges, which have weighed on sentiment toward the bloc. We expect these issues to persist into next year and are skeptical that EM ex China equities can outperform DM equivalents.

December 2021

Macro Hedge Funds Should Benefit from Improved Opportunities

Rising inflation and moderating growth are generally associated with a higher risk premium as investors start to price in a potential shift in market regime. In the past, global macro managers have generally benefited from better alpha opportunities that arise from volatility. With this backdrop, we expect macro hedge fund performance to be better than average next year.

December 2021

Active Equity Manager Performance Benefits as Breadth Widens

A market environment with a wider breadth of winners and losers provides greater opportunity for skilled active managers to distinguish themselves. Given the more balanced earnings contribution across sectors relative to 2020–21 and the widely dispersed equity valuations, we expect the breadth of winners and losers will be wider in 2022.

December 2021