Private markets have been viewed by institutional investors as key to a well-diversified portfolio. Benefits of these strategies: long-term outperformance over public markets, with increasingly important diversification benefits as the universe of publicly traded stocks continues shrinking and performance becomes increasingly concentrated to a few mega-cap tech companies.
On the latest edition of Market Week in Review, Investment Strategist BeiChen Lin and Sophie Antal-Gilbert, Head of AIS Portfolio & Business Consulting, discussed the U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product reading. They also reviewed the latest U.S. inflation data and provided an update on U.S. first-quarter earnings season.
Much like the NFL draft, portfolio managers undergo rigorous evaluations. Their track record, investment process, and stock selection process are considered. Additionally, qualitative assessments, including manager interviews and onsite visits, offer insights into their character and decision-making prowess.
Another strong quarter in markets led to another stellar performance for the Momentum and Growth factors.
It’s a frequent question asked by organizations looking for an outsourced investment solutions provider. Our answer may surprise you.
Investing in private markets has obvious upsides, including potential higher returns, access to a broader opportunity set, and greater diversification.
Just as a GPS navigator analyzes real-time data to recalibrate routes efficiently, active management interprets market conditions to steer portfolios towards investment goals.
Japan has had two big moments in the last month, with the Nikkei 225 equity index breaking above the highs set in 1989, and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raising interest rates for the first time in 17 years.
Our investment leadership team convened twice on Sunday to discuss the conflict between Iran and Israel, its key watchpoints in the days ahead, and the pertinent risks onto markets, our investment portfolios, and our clients. The team broadly agreed that maintaining a slightly defensive posture across portfolio strategies remained appropriate.
Despite expectations for interest rate cuts by the Fed, yields have risen since the start of the year, with the government 10-year bond yield climbing nearly 70 bps this year through April 10. This is a sharp reversal from what occurred in Q4 2023 when the 10-year yield collapsed by 71 bps.
On the latest edition of Market Week in Review, Investment Strategist BeiChen Lin and Product Operations Analyst McKenna Painter unpacked the latest U.S. inflation numbers. They also discussed recent rate decisions by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Canada (BoC) as well as the economic and market outlook for China.
April 15 is undoubtedly one day that is not enthusiastically celebrated by most people. It is safe to say that the discomfort around Tax Day likely ranks right up there with your annual physical or renewing your driver’s license.
Private markets continue to become an even more prevalent component of investor portfolios, providing access to an expanded opportunity set and strong diversification beyond traditional stocks and bonds.
How might investors consider positioning their portfolios amid today's complex and uncertain economic landscape?
It can be hard work onboarding clients, so the last thing you want is to lose them. Yet many advisors DID lose clients in 2023. Here are some ideas to improve client retention in 2024.
When it comes to the private real estate sector, the mention of the U.S. commercial office sector scares many investors away. While the office sector may give some investors pause, it's also prudent to look at the bigger picture.
On Jan. 30, Senior Director and Head of ESG and Investment Management Kris Tomasovic Nelson moderated an online discussion exploring the findings of Russell Investments’ 2023 Manager ESG Survey. In its ninth year, the annual survey offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of ESG practices within the investment management industry.
We believe optimism over a soft-landing scenario—where economic growth slows but a recession is avoided—may deliver more near-term market gains, as inflation declines and central banks look to start easing around mid-year.
In the ever-evolving investment landscape, one thing has persisted for decades: the debate about the superiority of active or passive strategies.
Planning on implementing a large portfolio change in the second quarter? You’ll want to pay attention to this calendar.
With interest rates at their highest levels in over a decade, now is a good time for most plan sponsors to de-risk their liabilities via a lump sum window.
In a move aimed at offering voters a pre-election giveaway, UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cut national insurance contributions by 2 percentage points in his spring budget. He had previously cut national insurance contributions by 2 percentage points in the autumn budget less than four months ago.
When the regional banking woes unfolded in March 2023, we argued that the challenges were not likely to be systemic. We continue to think that the challenges facing regional banks are likely contained, though near-term market volatility is always possible.
Learn how to engage and tailor approaches for women, addressing unique challenges and priorities in financial planning. Discover insights and resources to actively support female clients, seize opportunities, and shape the future of wealth management for women.
The average expected return on asset (EROA) assumption for the largest U.S.-listed pension plan sponsors increased to 6.70% in 2023—the first time a year-over-year increase has been observed in 19 years of records.
Not all investment returns are the same. Some are taxed at a higher rate than others. The Form 1099-DIV can help you analyze the Investment Tax Health of your clients. By looking at how much the investor received in different investment returns, you can calculate how much federal tax they will need to pay.
An investment program with dedicated but limited internal resources can extend its staff through a strategic partnership with an external investment solutions provider.
Careful data management and having a formal impact measurement framework in place are essential to preventing greenwashing and ensuring consistent impact delivery.
The Magnificent Seven stocks (Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla) have been the largest driver of equity returns in recent years and were again the dominant contributors in 2023, accounting for more than half of the market increase.
Looking back, I believe the financial advisors who were most willing to adapt to changing times were generally more able to set themselves apart from the crowd and experienced a higher rate of success.
The consumer price index (CPI) for January showed that core inflation held steady at a rate of 3.9% last month, a small setback in a trend of moderating inflation in the U.S. Healing in global supply chains and a rebalancing of the U.S. labor market have helped to dramatically tame inflation over the past year.
China's economy has disappointed most expectations over the past year. China's need to rebalance from investment to consumption is coming when tensions with the U.S. are elevated. This could create continued volatility. We believe China does have the levers to alleviate some key challenges.
When it comes to taxes, it's always best to be prepared for any future changes that could either benefit or hurt your clients. This year's inflation-related adjustments to tax brackets and standard deductions could give some of your clients more flexibility to manage their capital gains.
Chinese equities are extremely cheap and priced for bad news. We believe this environment may present opportunities for active managers.
Investors experienced a shift in global risk sentiment during Q4, marked by lower inflation and the anticipation of an end to the rate hiking cycle.
In February 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rule amendments to shorten the standard settlement cycle to T+1 for transactions in U.S. securities including equities, corporate bonds, unit investment trusts, and exchange-traded funds.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) vote in favor of keeping the Bank of England (BoE) policy rate at 5.25%.
In Russell Investments’ factor portfolios, the Global Large Cap Growth, Momentum and Size factors outperformed the MSCI All-Country World Index during Q4, while the Global Large Cap Value and Low Volatility factors underperformed the index. The Global Lage Cap Quality factor was flat for the quarter.
Many advisors wait until the end of the year to harvest tax losses, but that may not be the best policy. Stock markets frequently go up in the last two months of the year so better harvesting opportunities may be available at other times.
A renewed sense of optimism emerged during the fourth quarter, sparking an increase in U.S. equity trading volumes and a rally in risk-on fixed income assets.
More institutional investors are exploring infrastructure for diversification, income and stable return potential as well as inflation protection. Investors are looking at both the traditional segments and newer digital sectors along with renewables.
The fourth quarter of 2023 was a more favorable environment for active managers in the UK, Europe, Emerging Markets, U.S. Small Cap and Listed Infrastructure, while being more challenging for U.S. Large Cap, Global, Global ex-U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada, Long/Short and Global Real Estate managers.
When markets are volatile, it's tempting to move into cash. But those high yields on short-term cash instruments aren't as attractive once taxes and inflation are factored in.
There will be a lot of firsts for the economic history books if this business cycle can survive a labor market slowdown, 525 basis points (bps) of rate hikes and an extremely inverted U.S. Treasury yield curve.
Financial advisors are gearing up for a successful year and preparing for client reviews. We offer four actionable ideas and practices to help advisors address some key concerns many investors are having about the year ahead.
Institutional investors may want to consider an allocation to Quality equities as well as a sufficient allocation to government bonds.
We don't expect tensions between China and Taiwan to intensify this year, due to China's improving relationship at the margin with the U.S. and China's likely focus on domestic growth.
Initiate the year with direct indexing, encompassing tax planning, personalized investing strategies, rejuvenating sidelined cash, and navigating concentrated stock positions or financial windfalls.
While elections can be newsworthy, we think that investors shouldn’t be too concerned about the impact on financial markets. Staying disciplined will help investors in the long run.
Tax-loss harvesting is an essential tax-management strategy that can benefit a broad range of taxable investors – even those who many not think they have to worry about investment taxes.
