The Holiday Party Guest List

October 26, 2021 | Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, FCA, Partner, Director of Research

Though the leaves have only started to change color, holiday party planning is in full swing. And while ample food and drink are necessary inputs for any type of holiday celebration, it’s the guests who ultimately make the party…or break it. In a way, this dynamic isn’t all that different from the markets — at any given time, the prevailing economic and market conditions will dictate investor returns. Given this analogy, we thought it could be fun to take a survey of the “attendees” in the current market environment and see if we can draw a connection with real-life examples along with what each guest means to the success of the party…and investor. Oh, and one caveat as we go — similar to actual party planning, sometimes we don’t want to invite someone, but we have to invite this person; circling back to the financial markets, we can’t control what forces exist in the markets, but we will do our best to determine those that will be merry and those that will not. Confused? Don’t worry, I am too, but we’ll figure this as we go through the invite list.

Highlights from this edition:

• The Delta variant’s impact
• Consumer spending
• The credit and equity markets
• The coming Federal Reserve taper
• Earnings peak for equities
• Labor market shortages
• Commodity returns
• Inflation concerns
• The Evergrande debt crisis

Read > The Holiday Party Guest List

Watch our Q3 2021 Market Insights Video for an in-depth analysis of the third quarter’s performance by Marquette’s research team.

 

The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.