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The Alternatives Landscape provides a broad overview of the current environment for the primary alternative asset classes: hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real assets, and real estate. The landscape begins with a look at the broad hedge fund universe, which saw managers in higher beta-oriented strategies generating the best returns.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused investors around the globe to ditch risky assets in favor of safer alternatives. Many have looked to gold as the place to park capital in hopes that the commodity will gain value during the current market rout. Gold is viewed as a safe haven, expected to deliver a degree of protection when equity markets become more volatile. With so much uncertainty surrounding equities, why is gold underperforming?

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant burdens for employers and employees alike. While some businesses struggle to survive, others are fortunate enough to be in a position to help employees as they face hardships created by the crisis. Many employers in the latter category are looking for ways to best help employees who are facing financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic. One possible approach for these employers is a disaster relief fund under Section 139 of the Internal Revenue Code.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, business interruption and civil authority claims rose. In this episode, it addressed tips for providing notice, the amount and types of claims policyholders filed and requests for information from the insurance industry, similar historical events, and the barrage of expected insurance litigation coming our way.

The CARES Act is a $2.2 trillion fiscal policy response to help American citizens and businesses struggling with the severe impact from the coronavirus pandemic. The law created several important programs to help provide liquidity to small and midsize businesses to cover payroll or other business expenses. Each program carries its own set of restrictions based on employment size and other variables. The intention of the new law is to help businesses operating on Main Street, and in some cases that might include some family offices and their portfolio companies.

In what feels like a distant memory, the first quarter of 2020 began on a positive note, with the S&P 500 rising to a record high on February 19. Markets quickly retreated as investors digested the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy. The S&P 500 plummeted, losing 34% in 23 trading days, the fastest decline of that magnitude in history. Global central banks and governing bodies responded quickly, injecting historic levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus which pared losses.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released a set of frequently asked questions late on April 6, 2020, to clarify several issues with Paycheck Protection Program loans. These FAQs present the SBA’s interpretation of several provisions of the program, in some cases contradicting interpretations from banks, lawyers, and other advisors. A summary of some of the most important FAQs is provided, along with guidance as to what applicants should do if they had already applied before this guidance was issued.

The internet and mobile networks continue to hold up well in an unprecedented surge of people working, studying, and streaming from home. But amid the COVID-19 quarantine, there is increasing concern over how long the infrastructure undergirding the internet and mobile connectivity will hold up. As family offices around the world face the new reality and economic landscape of COVID-19, they must also consider how reliant they are on the current connectivity and think about contingency planning for the loss of connectivity.

The unprecedented speed, intensity, and uncertainty of COVID-19 has created a host of new and complex challenges for wealthy families that are playing out across both financial and family dynamics. There's no doubt it is a financial and business challenge, but it is also a very human one. To assist family office leaders and the families they support see and solve the issues in the most effective ways, a set of discussion questions are provided to help leaders prioritize and address both the financial and logistical considerations, as well as the very human ones.

Liquidity risk is a critical issue for investors, and it has been heightened in the COVID-19 environment that has brought on the end of the bull market. We take a closer review of the factors that have changed market liquidity conditions over the past decade, how the “new liquidity reality” has impacted several markets during the recent market downturn, and the potential steps to take going forward.