With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...

With the jobless rate falling, just how much room there is for a further hiring boom is now a salient question for both the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast and inflation outlook. Of late, there’s a sense that going through the pandemic has left some permanent marks on the labor market, making people less willing to work, less eager to fill certain kinds of jobs and requiring higher wages...

As the musical Hamilton makes clear, the national debt of the United States has always been controversial. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created the original national debt of $80 million.1 “It will be a matter of choice, if we are not out of debt in twenty years, without at all encumbering the people,” he wrote to a colleague. “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a...

September key drivers Not since January 2021 has the S&P 500 posted a negative return for the month. With increasing concerns over economic growth, inflation and the path of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) weighing on global markets, the S&P 500 posted nearly a 5% decline. Energy and broad-based commodities fared well given supply chain issues and demand across the...

Q: What is your current view on inflation (transitory, going higher, stable at higher level than in prior years), and what does that mean for the general population? A: The current pace of inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) is running above 5%. We believe this pace will calm down over the next few months; however, we think it will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s...

Download the PDF A quick look back There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the remarkable run the stock market has had, so we will stick with some statistics for the S&P 500, including: 12 new all-time highs reached in August alone Seven consecutive months of gains A 107% total return since the panic-stricken COVID-19 lows of March 20201 In this market resurgence, there have...

Since China opened its borders to the world four decades ago and initiated economic reforms, it has been one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. As the middle class expanded, demand for goods and services increased. Investors around the globe understood the opportunities and sought ways to participate in China’s...

  Active management Passive management Objective Pursue a defined investment objective Mirror a specific index Technique Actively select assets Own what the index owns Performance goal Outperform the market Track the index performance ...

What is going on? Over the course of the last six months, the Chinese government has escalated regulatory oversight of certain sectors and foreign listings. This is a cyclical phenomenon. Over the years, we have experienced periods in which the government increases regulation or reprimands business leaders. The current period is, however, the most intense we have seen in thoroughness and...

The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected, at its most recent meeting. The Fed’s statement and subsequent press conference from Chairman Powell provided a little more detail on the Committee’s thoughts on tapering of its asset purchase program. The statement noted progress toward the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, which could bring them closer to tapering. Powell’s...

Elon Musk recently illustrated the complexity of the clean energy story. In February, Musk’s company started accepting cryptocurrency in payment for electric vehicles (EV). By May, the company had stopped accepting the currency because mining cryptocurrency was contributing to climate change. The decision sparked immediate debate about clean energy because, let’s face it, mining lithium for...

Investors tend to think of advancements in technology coupled with high-tech equipment when thinking about clean energy opportunities. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and hydrogen and carbon sequestration are all hot topics for discussion when thinking about clean energy. What about landfill gas? There is an emerging trend developing to capture methane from organic waste, landfills...

June key drivers Despite continued concerns over increasing inflationary pressures, US equities as measured by the S&P 500 have posted another month of positive returns. As a rotation from value to growth took place in June, the S&P 500 gained over 2% while the Russell 3000 Growth Index gained over 6%. Commodity markets have begun to post strong gains, as growing demand coupled with...

May key drivers Despite an increase in volatility driven by concerns over inflation pressures building in the economy, global equities finished higher for the month of May, when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index. Across asset classes, we saw gains in equities, credit and real assets, which has been a consistent pattern over the past year. One area in equities that stood  out was the 2.6%...

Recently, equity markets were disrupted by the not-so-new news that the White House proposed a higher tax on realized investment profits (i.e., capital gains) to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan (AFP). President Joe Biden’s opening bid stirred controversy and created some market volatility. Even though the plan has yet to become a bill in Congress, negotiations within...

Download the PDF Earlier this month, we outlined the potential tax changes proposed in President Joe Biden’s two major fiscal initiatives and considered some of the potential implications for stock market investors. Since then, negotiations between the two political parties have begun. However, there is not yet a clear path to an outcome, and the bargaining and posturing will likely go...