The Labour Party secured a sweeping victory in the UK general election, returning them to power for the first time since 2010. Although Labour’s share of the vote increased only slightly since 2019 to 34%, the Conservative’s loss of votes to Reform allowed Labour to win 412 of the country’s 650-seat parliament. Even so, we […]
July 2024
Yes, we believe it will. Excitement around artificial intelligence (AI) and its related technological advancements has been a key market driver since early 2023. Investors are rightly enthusiastic about the potential for AI to support labor productivity and growth. We share this enthusiasm, while acknowledging the uncertainty in quantifying these benefits. Despite AI’s long-run promise, […]
June 2024
No. The Japanese yen has been on a weakening trend for several years. For most of that time, it has been a lynchpin of Japanese equity outperformance in local currency terms. We believe there is limited further downside for the yen, which, while removing a headwind for USD returns, also removes the main pillar of […]
May 2024
While there has been much debate around whether active managers can outperform passive indexes overall, a more relevant question is whether investors should pursue active management in public, long-only equities at all. Despite the challenges, we believe active management, especially in less efficient markets, can be worthwhile if investors: 1) employ a rigorous manager research […]
May 2024
Yes. We believe higher-quality US small-cap companies trade at a significant discount to large-cap peers, and their balance sheets have held up better than headlines suggest. Recent earnings for small-cap companies have disappointed, but we see this as more driven by sector and cyclical effects that should ease over the next 12 to 18 months […]
May 2024
No, while the public market’s outperformance may seem like a total eclipse, this one, like all eclipses, will be temporary. At present, short-term private equity returns do not compare favorably to those of public benchmarks. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, global private equity and global venture capital underperformed the MSCI ACWI on […]
April 2024
Yes, we believe that the euro area’s economy bottomed either in fourth quarter 2023 or first quarter 2024. The abatement of headwinds that saw GDP flatline during 2023 should allow for some expansion in 2024. Nonetheless, the growth impulse is likely to remain muted and growth should underperform the United States. Therefore, despite comparatively subdued […]
April 2024
No, we anticipate performance will broaden out beyond mega-cap tech stocks, which have driven US equity performance in recent years. Tech giants are vulnerable to disappointment by the elevated expectations reflected in valuations. Even well-run tech giants that continue to dominate their sectors and maintain high profitability may not deliver strong returns if their stock […]
March 2024