Market Matters: August 2021
Risk-on sentiment returned in August as the global economic recovery continued, albeit at a slowing pace.
Credit/Fixed Income
Review of Market Performance: Fiscal Year 2021
Fiscal year 2021 saw a continuation of the strong rebound in risk assets, which had commenced in second quarter 2020. This was facilitated initially by positive news from COVID-19 vaccine trials, and then ultimately by their gradual rollout, which established a path back toward economic normality. Meanwhile, both fiscal and monetary policy remained at extremely accommodative settings.
Market Matters: July 2021
Defensive and interest rate–sensitive assets generally outperformed in July as cracks in the global economic recovery emerged, driven in part by increasing Delta variant case counts.
Don’t Discount Fixed Income Investing for US Pension Plans
While alpha is commonly recognized as a key lever in maintaining or improving funded status, it is often mistakenly limited to purely equity or lower-liquidity investment opportunities. For plan sponsors, this can be a costly misconception. Cambridge Associates’ research shows that active fixed income management can contribute valuable alpha, resulting in significant benefits to plan outcomes.
US Manager Universe Statistics: Second Quarter 2021
This publication presents manager performance for 37 asset classes and substrategies, showing the median, mean, and key percentiles of return. Relevant indexes for each asset class are also included to provide market context.
Market Matters: June 2021
Risk assets excelled in second quarter, driven by improving economic momentum.
Market Matters: May 2021
Most asset classes pushed higher in May.
US Inflation Spikes, as Expected
Today, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly inflation report for April, which highlighted that prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of goods and services increased by 4.2% relative to the same month last year.
Market Matters: April 2021
The risk rally continued in April with broad-based gains across most asset classes.
Rising Rates and the Implications for Fixed Income
In this paper, we analyze the drivers behind the recent rise in yields and compare the current bond sell-off to major bond sell-offs of the past to assess whether the rise in yields can continue and the implications for fixed income.