Have Things Been Too Quiet?

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

Although this is only the second iteration of my quarterly letter series, Marquette has always produced quarterly market narratives in one shape or another. And in almost all cases, it has been relatively straightforward to formulate a narrative that stitches together the primary headlines from the prior three months. But as I sit here today, things seem quiet…too quiet, almost. Of course, it is the first summer after a crippling global pandemic that shuttered the economy and constrained us almost exclusively to our homes for the better part of the year. Summer is in full swing and the images of crowded beaches overlaid with higher prices for airline tickets and hotel stays illustrate that people are getting back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles, both socially and economically. Anecdotally, my email volume slowed over the last quarter as well; whether this is pure coincidence or a function of markets generally behaving in conjunction with economic re-openings and summer vacations remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, the purpose of this letter series is to track the pulse of the financial markets and let our readers know what we’re thinking about (worrying about?) when looking at the overall financial market landscape. Given that objective, the following outlines several market factors that we believe bear monitoring as the remainder of the year plays out.

Highlights from this edition:

• Market volatility and reversion to the mean
• COVID-19: new uncertainty with the Delta variant, vaccination progress
• Interest rate expectations
• Inflation following a crisis
• Valuations: signals from the credit and equity markets

Read > Have Things Been Too Quiet?

 

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.