Topic Tags: International Equity - Developed

U.K. Domestic Banks Spike After Tory Triumph

In what has been called a landmark victory, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Conservatives handily defeated their Labour party opposition in the Thursday, December 12th U.K. general election, winning 364 of the 650 Parliament seats. This landslide gain locks in a Tory government majority, which should enable Johnson to fulfill his campaign pledge to “Get Brexit Done.” The win also provides the broader market with greater certainty about the direction of Brexit, as Johnson will now have the votes necessary to complete the steps needed to make the existing divorce deal law and to take Britain out of the European Union by the end of 2020.

Brexit has been a major overhang on U.K. stocks, as evidenced by the FTSE 100 being the worst performing European Index year-to-date. In this chart of the week, we show the London stock market response to the election results. The FTSE 100 Index rallied on both the Friday and Monday after last week’s election, up 1.1% and 2.3% respectively based on closing price. In intraday trading on Monday, December 16th, the U.K. blue-chip index surged to its highest level in four months, up nearly 2.7%. Of note, those businesses acutely impacted by the domestic U.K. economy saw a meaningful boost. British financial service firms were among the major climbers during the rally, with Hargreaves Lansdown, Barclays, and Lloyds Banking Group (shown in the chart) up over 4%.

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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.

Live Videos: 2019 Investment Symposium Presentations

The six flash talks by our research team at Marquette’s 2019 Investment Symposium on October 4th are now available to view on our YouTube channel.

View each talk in the player above — use the upper-right list icon to access a specific presentation.

  • The Investment Case Behind ESG Investing and Implementation in Practice
    Nat Kellogg, CFA, Director of Manager Search
  • Beyond Traditional Real Estate: Exploring Opportunities in Non-Core Real Estate
    Jeremy Zirin, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst, Real Assets
  • So Many Risks, So Little Time: What’s Next in Global Risk?
    Nicole Johnson-Barnes, Research Analyst
  • U.S. Against the World: Should Investors Still Own International Stocks?
    David Hernandez, CFA, Senior Research Analyst, Non-U.S. Equities
    Samantha T. Grant, CFA, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst, U.S. Equities
  • Machine Learning for Investing: How is Artificial Intelligence Being Used in Asset Management?
    Ben Mohr, CFA, Director of Fixed Income
  • Pick Your Portfolio Poison: Recession or Inflation?
    Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, Director of Research

Marquette encourages open dialogue with our consultants and research team. For more information, questions, or feedback, please send us an email.

A Prism of Capital Market Views: Portfolio Manager Panel

Marquette’s 2019 Investment Symposium opened with a portfolio manager panel hosted by Marquette’s director of research, Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, and featuring:

  • John W. Rogers, Jr., Chairman, Co-CEO & Chief Investment Officer at Ariel Investments
  • Olga Bitel, Partner and Global Strategist at William Blair
  • Matthew J. Eagan, CFA, Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Loomis, Sayles & Company

Third Quarter Review of Asset Allocation: Risks and Opportunities

The third quarter saw mixed results for financial markets. Economic fundamentals generally remain strong but signs of deterioration are starting to emerge. Unemployment currently hovers around 3.5%, and inflation is near the Fed’s target of 2%. However, 3Q GDP growth was under 2% (though the 1.9% figure exceeded the 1.7% estimate), and the PMI index has been below 50 since August (a reading under 50 is indicative of contraction in the manufacturing sector). Overall, the most important global trends we see are the following:

  • The U.S.-China trade conflict continues to weigh heavily on both countries as talks remain ongoing;
  • The Federal Reserve (“Fed”) reversed course by cutting interest rates and further cuts are still possible;
  • The U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted briefly, which historically has signaled a recession over the subsequent 12–24 months;
  • Brexit negotiations were extended to January 31, 2020, therefore further perpetuating the uncertainty around the UK’s exit from the EU;
  • Negative interest rates continue to grow in prevalence around the world.

The impact of these shifting dynamics is explored further in this newsletter as we review third quarter performance and expectations going forward for each of the major asset classes.

Read > Third Quarter Review of Asset Allocation: Risks and Opportunities

 

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.

3Q 2019 Market Briefing

Live Webinar – Thursday, October 24, 2019 – 1:00-2:00 PM CT


Please join Marquette’s asset class analysts for a live webinar based on our 3Q 2019 Market Environment. This webinar series is designed to brief clients on the market as soon as possible after quarterly market data becomes available.

The overall U.S. economy will be discussed, along with fixed income, U.S./non-U.S. equity, hedge funds, private equity, real estate and infrastructure.

Featuring:
Greg Leonberger, FSA, EA, MAAA, Partner, Director of Research
Jeffrey Hoffmeyer, CFA, Lead Analyst, Asset Allocation
Ben Mohr, CFA, Director of Fixed Income
Samantha Grant, CFA, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst, U.S. Equities
David Hernandez, CFA, Senior Research Analyst, Non-U.S. Equities
Joe McGuane, CFA, Senior Research Analyst, Alternatives
Jeremy Zirin, CAIA, Senior Research Analyst, Real Assets
Brett Graffy, CAIA, Research Analyst

Who should attend: Institutional investment stewards, private clients, investment managers

Live webinar attendees will be able to submit questions to the presenters and vote in audience polls during the event. Questions will be answered during the final 15 minutes of the webinar, as time allows.

If you are unable to attend the webinar live, you can also view it afterward on demand. Registrants will automatically receive a follow-up email shortly after the end of the webinar to notify them of webinar recording availability

Plummeting Pound Rebounds as PM Johnson is Thwarted

There has been a flurry of updates on the Brexit saga over the last three weeks, starting with the leak of the Yellowhammer doomsday report on August 18th to Wednesday’s stunning news of British Members of Parliament (MPs) successfully pressing forward on a measure to foil a no-deal Brexit. Throughout that time ­— and since the Referendum — the pound sterling has taken varying degrees of “pounding” based on these Brexit updates, and this week was no different.

In today’s chart, we show the intraday moves of the USD/GBP spot rate over the last three days. On Tuesday, September 3rd, MPs exerted their legislative muscle and debated the merits of a bill designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit on October 31st. In a sharp early sell-off that morning, the pound nosedived below the October 2016 “Flash Crash” dip and hit a 34-year low. The slump came amid growing fears that Britain could crash out of the European Union sans divorce agreement and the possibility of a snap general election. By that evening, however, MPs had voted 328 to 301 to seize control and presented a formal debate on the proposed legislation, delivering Prime Minister Johnson’s first legislative defeat in the House of Commons and causing the pound to rebound from the intraday low. And we saw the pound continue to rise in conjunction with PM Johnson’s second loss on the following day — MPs voted 329 to 300 in favor of the proposed legislative block on a no-deal Brexit. While it is unknown whether the pound will continue to climb, the MPs’ steps towards ensuring that the worst-case Brexit scenario would be avoided appeared to placate currency traders and the market.

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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.

Investing 101 Video Series

Our Investing 101 video series covers the fundamentals of investing. This series aims to create a knowledge base for trustees, staff, and other investors of the key terms and concepts that they encounter most frequently, with guidance provided by several of Marquette’s research analysts and directors.

The series covers:

Marquette encourages open dialogue with our consultants and research team. For more information, questions, or feedback, please send us an email.

All is Not Lost for 2019

Given this week’s volatility driven by (brief) yield curve inversion, the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute, disappointing economic data from Germany, and overall growing pessimism about future growth, investors’ growing concerns about portfolio returns are entirely justified. However, despite this week’s volatility and mostly negative news, almost all asset classes have delivered positive returns for the year, with the great majority of U.S. equity strategies up double digits. Furthermore, most fixed income strategies have profited from falling interest rates, as shown by positive returns from investment grade as well as below investment grade sectors. And for all the negative news out of the Eurozone and China, international equities — as represented by the ACWI ex-US index — are still up more than 6% through August 15th. While the rest of the year is likely to feature elevated volatility and lower returns, barring a major market correction most portfolios should remain in positive territory, despite what has transpired the first half of August. If nothing else, we encourage investors to take a long-term view of the markets and not overreact in times of market stress, as stepping back and taking a longer-term view of the markets indicates that 2019 has been a profitable year to date.

Print PDF > All is Not Lost for 2019

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.

Second Quarter Review of Asset Allocation: Risks and Opportunities

Overall, the second quarter was positive for financial markets, thanks to strong economic fundamentals and expected Fed stimulus. Unemployment remains low at 3.7% and inflation (1.8% year over year) is near the Fed’s long-term target of 2%. However, there are increasing concerns about a global economic slowdown and early forecasts for 2Q GDP growth are around 1.5%, far lower than what we’ve seen in recent quarters. Globally, the most important trends we see are the following:

  • The U.S.-China trade conflict remains ongoing as talks between the two countries resumed, but little progress has been made;
  • The Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates in July and markets are forecasting another one to two cuts by the end of the year;
  • Business sentiment is declining ­— most notably in the PMI manufacturing index, which is now dangerously close to falling below its growth threshold;
  • Britain continues to struggle with its Brexit and elected a new PM (Boris Johnson) on July 23rd;
  • China and Europe are expected in increase their stimulus measures to combat slow growth and overall global uncertainty;
  • Late-cycle dynamics in credit and equity markets.

The impact of these trends is explored further in this newsletter as we review second-quarter performance and expectations going forward for each of the major asset classes.

Read > Second Quarter Review of Asset Allocation: Risks and Opportunities

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.

What to Expect from Global Equities?

Through the first half of the year, most U.S. and non-U.S. equity indices have produced double-digit returns. For example, the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI ex U.S. indices are up 18.5% and 13.6%, respectively. On the surface, these large returns appear to indicate a healthy equity market. However, when we dig deeper, we find that multiple expansion ­— rather than fundamentals — has been the key driver of year-to-date returns. In fact, earnings revisions have been negative across the globe as analysts have downgraded their 2019 EPS estimates.

Why have equity returns been so strong during a tepid earnings environment? First, we think markets were likely oversold in 2018, leading to a bounceback this year. Second, central banks throughout the world have become more accommodative, including possible rate cuts in the U.S. and tax cuts in China. This shift in monetary policy has boosted equity investor optimism. Looking to the rest of the year, we have a cautious view on equity returns given the poor earnings momentum. Additionally, macro events like the Brexit and U.S.-China trade relations serve as potential potholes in the second half. Collectively, these risks suggest more modest equity returns in the second half of 2019.

Print PDF > What to Expect from Global Equities?

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.