We provide context for the US government recommendation for endowments to divest from Chinese companies, highlight practical considerations if institutions elect to comply, and encourage institutions to reaffirm their approach to investing in Chinese equities.
Yes, investors who have made tactical bets in gold should consider scaling back their positions and locking in some gains.
By considering the return profile of a manager along with its size in the portfolio, active risk provides additional insight to risk management decisions, helps build better portfolios, and contributes to better governance.
No, we still believe China remains an important exposure for investment portfolios. However, US-China tensions will continue to escalate. Investors need to reaffirm both the rationale and implementation of their China investment strategy and must communicate this with key stakeholders. For further reading, please see the “Decoupling” section of Celia Dallas and Wade O’Brien’s “VantagePoint:…
With the initial chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic somewhat behind us but much uncertainty and potential volatility ahead, plan sponsors will be well served by focusing on—and possibly recalibrating—some core plan management elements. These approaches include liquidity management, rebalancing processes and opportunities, governance, and communication.
Investors are now grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sent global equities into bear market territory as the threat of a severe recession weighs on the global economy. These are challenging, uncertain times for equity markets. As investors work to ensure their portfolios will be robust through this downturn and are positioned for the eventual rebound, we offer a review of the critical benefits of global equity diversification and examine considerations related to home bias, rebalancing strategies, and currency impacts.
In periods of market stress, it can be difficult to rebalance, much less overweight risky assets like equities. In this paper, we review our approach using multiple lenses: magnitude and duration of drawdowns relative to history, cheapness of valuations, and presence of pre-conditions for markets to begin their ascent. Such an approach can help investors tune out the emotion and dial in on the hard data and most probable outcomes even in the face of great uncertainty. While opportunities are developing across many markets, investors should hold off on broad overweights to risky assets at this time.
For non-profit institutions, the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 virus, and the speed by which these disruptions have materialized, create a perfect financial storm.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has inflicted significant duress upon the operational and financial situations of nonprofit healthcare systems. An immediate response was necessary to escalate staffing, spending, and resources to provide emergency treatment to those affected by this highly contagious outbreak.
In this edition of VantagePoint, we review the circumstances that have abruptly ended the bull market and evaluate the market implications of COVID-19. With that context, we discuss the case for rebalancing and evaluate some early opportunities.