Certain signals suggest that individuals are prepared to return to higher risk, higher reward markets. The combination of conditions in bond markets and the long-term outlook for the global economy have some analysts calling for what has been coined ‘The Great Rotation’ – a transformational shift of capital from bond&nb...
The author discusses long-term investing for the wealth expansion portfolio – assets available after shorter-term needs are met – to capitalize on medium-term market dislocations and opportunities as well as longer-term economic, social and geopolitical trends and themes. Trends from the past 25 years are discussed as well as five inves...
The world continues to ride the same train of global imbalances. While short-term solutions have allowed us to arrive at the next station, few are attempting to address the long-term issues. We believe that capital markets will continue to assail the weakest links in the financial system, which, hopefully, instills the required discipline for polic...
Aggresive government policies may jump-start the U.S. economy, but longer-term risks remain. We suspect investors will be happy to say goodbye to the last decade during which investment returns in most asset classes were far below historical norms. As we begin this new decade, we are optimistic about one important issue: equity prices are not at th...
As we briefly review 2011, one thing is apparent: corporations generally had a better year than politicians, job seekers or investors. Despite 2011’s economic volatility, companies delivered better earnings than the consensus had forecast last January. Yet despite solid corporate profitability, macro uncertainties kept stocks under pressure for mos...
The catastrophic earthquakes/tsunamis in Japan, and the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) understandably dominate today’s news. Japan is clearly an enormous human tragedy, as well as one with economic consequences. The events in both of these regions have created significant global uncertainty affecting everything from gasoline ...
hat a difference a new year makes. Fueled by massive liquidity injection from the European Central Bank (ECB) and expectations of additional easing from central banks around the globe, stocks raced out of the starting gate and left bearish sentiment in the dust.
Equity markets around the globe took a breather from the prior six months’ impressive run-up. Since the 2011 low on October 4, 2011, the MSCI World Index had rallied 22% by the end of March 2012. A mild pull-back is thus nothing unusual. However, the financial market optimism exhibited in the first quarter of 2012 has been tainted with a dose of un...
While foundation leaders have displayed a remarkable ability to adapt to change, economic and legislative uncertainty make fulfi lling their mission directives all the more arduous. This period of transition promises to be more than a temporary shift, and many foundation executives believe some fundamental changes are necessary.
In a family enterprise - particularly in a multigenerational family business - the company is often the dominant aspect of the family's identity. Adding a philanthropic track to the enterprise not only creates a significant return on investment in terms of the company's relationship with its customers and employees, but also can affirm the core val...
Estate planners who help their clients become more strategic about philanthropy in their legacy planning strengthen relationships with clients and their heirs and significantly increase the likelihood that their clients’ charitable distributions will align with their interests and be more effective. Whether creating a new estate plan or revisiting ...
We anticipate a period of market consolidation leading up to, and including, the summer and would not be surprised to see more elevated levels of volatility. However, over the longer term we see risk assets continuing to be supported by valuations and abundant liquidity, although tail risks to growth from global fiscal policy remain.
Interest rates continue to bump along near historical lows. Given the asymmetric risk/reward of holding bonds with extraordinarily low yields, some investors have been reconsidering their holdings. Investors worried about rising interest rates have several options (among them, shortening duration and using derivatives), but none are without opportu...
Rockefeller Financial Managing Director Jimmy Chang looks at Greece's possible exit from the euro, the cooling of global markets and Facebook's disappointing IPO.
If Congress doesn’t act by January 1, 2012, policies will automatically take effect that will reduce the 2013 deficit by $607 billion, or about 4% of GDP. While this policy, commonly referred to as "walking off the fiscal cliff," would be a near-term disaster, an extension of 2012 fiscal policy that fails to address increasing indebtedness could ac...