Equities

Will Brazil’s Presidential Election Undercut the Country’s Recent Strong Equity Performance?

No, we don’t think so. While there may be higher-than-typical market volatility around the run-off election on October 30, we expect economic issues will be the primary driver of Brazilian equities in the months that follow. On balance, we see these issues as neither overly positive nor negative and recommend that investors maintain Brazilian allocations in line with their policy.

Asia Insights: Playing Defense

Asian markets have had a difficult year, but while the current environment has been challenging for most investments, it has also created an opportunity for more defensive and diversifying strategies to add value. In this edition of Asia Insights, we focus on the case for Asia quality strategies within public equities; increased interest in India and Southeast Asia venture capital markets; private infrastructure and private credit as defensive strategies; and the value in Asia macro and equity long/short.

Review of Market Performance: Fiscal Year 2022

Fiscal year 2022 was a challenging one for public market investments. Rising levels of inflation across most developed and emerging markets saw central banks become more aggressive in their monetary tightening plans. This in turn saw correlations between bonds and equities become positive; bonds declined as a direct result of higher inflation and tighter policy, while equities weakened in response to the higher cost of capital. This chart book presents returns and other market metrics for fiscal year 2022.

Hedge Fund Update: Second Quarter 2022

Volatility peaked in June as markets struggled to find equilibrium between inflationary pressures and the prospects of a recession. There was no shortage of uncertainty. Given the environment, hedge funds performed relatively well versus broad equity and credit market indexes, despite most strategies experiencing absolute losses.

VantagePoint: Have US Equities Hit Bottom?

Given the uncertain economic and profit environment, have markets bottomed yet? In this edition of VantagePoint, we address this question by comparing current market conditions to those of historical bear markets, evaluating economic conditions to better understand near-term recession prospects, and considering how much further the market may have to go based on historical precedents.